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LIBRARY  OF  THE  THEOLOGICAL  SEMINARY 

PRINCETON.     N.    J. 


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A 


COMMEITTARY  %iooiM 


ON    THE 


HOLY    SCRIPTURES: 

CRITICAL,  DOCTRINAL,  AND  HOMILETICAL. 

WITH  SPECIAL  REFERENCE  TO  MINISTERS  AND  STUDENTS 

BT 

JOHIlir   PETER  "'IaISTGE,  D.  D., 

OKDINABT  PBORBSOR  OF  THEOLOOT  IN  THE  UNIVER8ITT  OF  BONN. 
HI  aowBKunoii  with  a  numbkb  of  EMunurr  kcropkah  Drvonta 

TRANSLATED,    ENLARGED,   AND  EDITED 


PHILIP   SOHAFF,  D.  D., 

PBOFESSOR   OF  THBOLOGY   IN  THE   CNION   THEOLOGICAL  SEMINARY.   NEW   YORK, 
IB     OOKKKCTIOM     WITH     AMERICAU     80HOt.AR8     OP     VARIOUS     BTANOELICAL     DENOMIHATtOVt. 


VOhtmE  XIV,  OV  THE  OLD  TESTAMENT:  CONTAINING  THE  MINOR  PROPHETB^ 


KEW  YOUK: 
CHARLES    SCRIBNER'S    SONS, 

i89y 


THE 


MINOR  PROPHETS 


KXEGETICALLY,  THEOLOGICALLY.   AND   HOMILETICALLY 


EXPOUNDED 


PAUL    KLEINERT,   OTTO    SCHMOLLER, 

GEORGE   R.  BLISS,  TALBOT  W.  CHAMBERS,   CHARLES  ELLIOTT, 

JOHN   FORSYTH,  J.  FREDERICK   McCURDY,  AND 

JOSEPH    PACKARD. 


EDITED  BY 

PHILIP   SCHAFF,  D.  D. 


NEW   YORK: 

CHARLES     SCRIBNER'S     SONS. 

1899 


according  to  Act  of  Congress,  in  the  vear  1874,  dv' 
8CRIBNER,  Armstrong,  and  Compant, 
the  Office  of  the  Librarian  of  Congress,  at  Washinttloft* 


Trow's 
Printing  and  Bookbinding  Company, 
205-213   East  \itk  St., 

NKVV     YORK. 


PREFACE  BY  THE   GENERAL  EDITOR 


The  volume  on  the  Minor  Prophets  is  partly  in  advance  of  the  German  original, 
which  has  not  yet  reached  the  three  post-exilian  Prophets.  The  commentaries  on  the  nin« 
earlier  Prophets  by  Professors  Kleinert  and  Schmoller  Appeared  in  separate  numberi 
some  time  ago  ^ ;  but  for  Haggai,  Zechariab,  and  Malachi,  Dr.  Lange  has  not,  to  this  date, 
been  able  to  secure  a  suitable  co-laborer.^  With  his  cordial  approval  I  deem  it  better  to 
complete  the  volume  by  original  commentaries  than  indefinitely  to  postpone  the  publicatioo. 
They  were  prepared  by  sound  and  able  scholars,  in  conformity  with  the  plan  of  the  whole 
work. 

The  volume  accordingly  contains  the  following  parts,  each  one  being  paged  separately :  — 

1.  A  General  Introduction  to  the  Prophets,  especially  the  Minor  Prophets,  by 
Rev.  Charles  Elliott,  D.  D.,  Professor  of  Biblical  Exegesis  in  Chicago,  Illinois.  The 
general  introductions  of  Kleinert  and  Schmoller  are  too  brief  and  incomplete  for  our  purpose, 
and  therefore  I  requested  Dr.  Elliott  to  prepare  an  independent  essay  on  the  subject. 

2.  HosEA.  By  Rev.  Dr.  Otto  Schmoller.  Translated  from  the  Grerman  and  en- 
larged by  James  Frederick  McCurdy,  M.  A.,  of  Princeton.  N.  J. 

3.  Joel.  By  Otto  Schmoller.  Translated  and  enlarged  by  Rev.  John  Forstth, 
D.  D.,  LL.  D.,  Chaplain  and  Professor  of  Ethics  and  Law  in  the  United  States  Military 
Academy,  West  Point,  N.  Y. 

4.  Amos.  By  Otto  Schmoller.  Translated  and  enlarged  by  Rev.  Talbot  W 
Chambers,  D.  D.,  Pastor  of  the  Collegiate  Reformed  Dutch  Church,  New  York. 

5.  Obadiah.  By  Rev.  Paul  Kleinert,  Professor  of  Old  Testament  Theology  in  the 
University  of  Berlin.  Translated  and  enlarged  by  Rev.  George  R.  Bliss,  D.  D.,  Professor 
in  the  University  of  Lewisburg,  Pennsylvania. 

6.  Jonah.  By  Prof.  Paul  Kleinert,  of  the  University  of  Berlin.  Translated  and  en- 
larged by  Rev.  Charles  Elliott,  Professor  of  Biblical  Exegesis  in  Chicago.' 

7.  MicAH.  By  Prof.  Paul  Kleinert,  of  Berlin,  and  Prof.  George  R.  Bliss,  of  Lewi»* 
burg. 

8.  Nahum.  By  Prof  Paul  Kleinert,  of  Berlin,  and  Prof.  Chables  Elliott,  of 
Chicago. 

9.  Habakkuk.     By  Professors  Kleinert  and  Elliott. 

1  Obadjah,  Jonah,  Mieha,  Nahum,  Habukuk,  Zephanjak.  'Wissenshaftlich  undfitr  lUn  Bebraueh  der  Kireht  auigeltgt  vom 
Pun,  Kledubt,  P/arrer  zu  St.  Gertraud  und  a.  Professor  an  der  Vniversitdt  zu  Berlin.  Bielefeld  n.  Leipzig,  1868.  —  DU 
Propheten  Ho.ua,  Joel  und  Amos.  Theologiseh-homiletUch  btarbeitet  von  Ono  SOHHOLUB,  Liunt.  der  Theologie,  Diaeonui 
in  Uraeh.  Bielef.  and  Leipzig,  1872. 

2  Tlje  commentary  of  Rev.  W.  Pbbssel  on  these  three  Prophets  (IHe  tMehtxaisthen  Propheten,  Qotha,  1870)  wi* 
originally  prepared  for  Lange's  Bible-work,  but  wag  rejected  by  Dr.  Lange  mainly  on  account  of  Pressel's  views  on  tb« 
genuineness  and  integrity  of  Zechariah.  It  was,  however,  independently  published,  and  was  made  use  of;  like  oth« 
eommentaries,  by  the  authors  of  the  respective  sections  in  this  volume. 

8  Dr.  Elliott  desires  to  render  his  acknowledgments  to  the  Rev.  Reuben  Dederiok,  of  Chicago,  and  the  B«t.  Jacoh 
Lotke,  of  Faribault,  Minnesota,  for  valuable  assistance  in  translatinit  some  difficult  passages  In  Kleintrt'S  0<»nmentanM 
m  Jonah,  Nahum,  and  Habakkuk. 


Ti  PREFACE  BY   THE   GENERAL  EDITOR. 


10.  Zkphaniah.     By  Professors  Kxeinert  and  Elliott. 

11.  Haggai.     By  James  Frederick  McCurdy,  M.  A.,  Princeton,  N.  J. 

12.  Zechariah  By  Rev.  Talbot  W.  Chambers,  D.  D.,  New  York.  (See  special 
preface.) 

13.  Malachi.  By  Rev.  Joseph  Packard,  D.  D.,  Professor  of  Biblical  Literature  in 
the  Theological  Semiimry  at  Alexandria,  Virginia. 

The  contributors  to  this  volume  were  directed  carefully  to  consult  the  entire  ancient  and 
modern  literature  on  the  Minor  Prophets  and  to  enrich  it  with  the  latest  results  of  Grerman 
and  Anglo-American  scholarship. 

The  remaining  parts  of  the  Old  Testament  are  all  onder  way,  and  will  be  published  at 
fast  as  the  nature  of  the  work  will  permit. 

PHILIP   SCHAFF. 

Dnon  TwrnoatOM  9sKaA\i,  Nzrw  YoM,  .  i/sa^jry,  1874. 


THE 


BOOK  OF  MALACHT. 


EXPOUNDED 


lOSKPH   PACKARD.  D.   D. 


paurKasoK  op   bibucai.  lkabsihu   in   thk   theological   skmixahy  ok   thk  PKOTKaTAjrr  ei'iscopaii 

CHDSCH    AT   ALSXANDRIA,    VIROIXtA. 


NEW  YORK: 
CHARLES    SOKIBNER'S    SONS, 


£nt*rfld  according  to  Act  of  Congress,  in  the  year  1874,  by 

ScRiBNER,  Armstrong,  and  Compant, 
i&  tlie  Offic«  of  the  Librariau  of  Congress,  at  WashinfStaa. 


MALACHL* 

INTRODUCTION. 

§  1.    The  Prophet  Malachi. 

The  Prophet  Malachi  is  the  last  of  the  series  of  prophets,  who,  throngh  saccessiye  gen- 
erations, for  a  thousand  years,  "  had  showed  before  of  the  coming  of  the  Just  one."  Not 
only  had  this  remarkable  order  of  inspired  men  predicted  the  coming  Messiah,  but  they 
lifted  up  their  voice,  like  a  trumpet,  to  show  God's  people  their  transgression,  and  the  house 
of  Jacob  their  sins.  They  were  the  teachers  and  preachers  of  the  generations  in  which 
they  respectively  lived,  and  were  thus  the  prototypes  of  ministers  of  the  Gospel. 

It  has  been  a  subject  of  doubt,  from  a  very  early  period,  whether  Malachi  was  the  real 
name  of  the  Prophet,  or  an  official  title.  The  Septuagint  translates  Malachi  "  his  angel." 
The  Targum  regards  Ezra  as  the  author  of  the  prophecy,  and  is  followed  in  this  opinion,  with 
more  or  less  confidence,  by  Jerome,  Calvin,  Hengstenberg,  and  Umbreit.  "  I  am  disposed  to 
grant,"  says  Calvin,  "  that  the  author  was  Ezra,  and  that  Malachi  was  his  surname,  for  Grod 
had  called  him  to  do  great  and  remarkable  things."  "^  We  shall  not  succeed,"  says  Ewald, 
"  in  finding  the  real  name  of  the  writer."  No  one  has  so  strenuously  opposed  the  common 
opinion,  that  Malachi  was  the  real  name  of  the  Prophet,  as  Hengstenberg,  in  his  Christology 
of  the  0.  T.  (2d  edition  Martin's  translation),  vol.  iv.  156-161.  He  labors  to  establish  a  con- 
nection between  the  name  of  the  Prophet,  and  the  same  word  as  occurring  in  its  official  sig- 
nification, "  my  messenger"  in  ch.  iii.  1.  He  maintains,  that  the  formation  of  the  word,  and 
the  absence  of  any  reference  to  his  father,  or  the  place  of  his  birth,  go  to  show  that  it  was 
not  a  proper  name.  But,  on  the  other  hand,  we  have  no  account  of  the  personal  relations 
of  Haggai,  Habakkuk,  and  Obadiah.  The  formation  of  the  word,  as  a  proper  name,  is  not 
without  precedent,  as  in  Naphtali,  Zichri.  It  would  be  contrary  to  the  analogy  of  the 
prophetical  books,  it  would  weaken  the  force  of  the  prophecy,  and  cast  some  suspicion  upon 
it,  if  we  regarded  it  as  anonymous.  We  consider  it  then  with  Hitzig,  as  a  proper  name, 
and  as  an  abbreviation  of  Malachiah,  servant  of  Jehovah. 

The  time,  in  which  Malachi  prophesied,  has  also  been  the  subject  of  some  difference  of 
opinion.  All  are  agreed,  from  the  internal  evidence,  that  it  was  after  the  exile,  which  is 
not  mentioned  in  the  book.  The  temple  was  rebuilt,  its  service,  together  with  the  sacrifices, 
and  feasts  and  fasts,  restored.  Some  are  disposed  to  put  the  age  of  Malachi  at  a  much  later 
date  than  others.  Dr.  J.  G.  Murphy  (Fairbairn's  Imperial  Dictionary,  art.  Mai.)  maintains, 
that  he  may  have  lived  till  the  time  of  Alexander  the  Great,  331  B.  c.  Hitzig  (Comm.  on 
Minor  Prophets)  conjectures,  that  he  prophesied  about  358  b.  c.  But  as  we  find  Malachi 
condemning  the  very  same  abuses,  which  Nehemiah  found  existing  in  his  second  visit  to 
Jerusalem,  we  may  reasonably  conclude,  that  they  were  contemporaries,  and  sustain  the  same 
relations  to  each  other,  that  Haggai  and  Zechariah  did  to  Zerubbabel,  and  that  Malachi 
prophesied  fi-om  440—410  B.  c. 

To  understand  the  prophecy,  we  must  glance  at  the  circumstances  of  the  Jews,  in  his  time. 
They  had  returned  from  the  exile,  as  we  learn  from  Nehemiah,  in  "  great  affliction  and  dis- 
tress." The  period  of  the  exile  had  been  a  painful  and  humiliating  one.  They  had  been 
in  the  furnace  of  affliction.  From  the  prophecies  of  Isaiah,  and  other  prophets,  they  had 
expected  even  more  than  the  restoration  of  their  former  blessings,  but  instead  of  that,  they 
irere  under  Persian  governors,  "  who  had  dominion  over  their  bodies."  Now,  while  the 
1  I  hare  been  more  brief  in  the  Pie&oe  to  Nalacbi,  than  I  desired,  from  the  brief  space  allotted  me.  —  J.  P 


i  MALACm. 

exile  was  a  great  blessing  to  them  in  many  respects,  as  it  cured  them  of  idolatry,  and  pro« 
duced  some  outward  repentance  at  least,  as  the  tears,  which  they  shed  at  Ezra's  exposition 
of  the  law,  testified,  yet  from  the  disappointment  of  their  fond  hopes,  they  fell  into  an"  un- 
grateful, murmuring,  self-righteous  spirit,  complaining  of  God's  injustice  to  them,  as  though 
they  had  claims  upon  Him,  and  provoking  his  divine  majesty  by  a  denial  of  his  justice,  and 
providential  government.  We  see  in  the  state  of  mind  and  heart  of  the  people,  the  germs 
of  tliat  Pharisaism  and  Sadduceeism,  which  were  full-blown  in  the  time  of  our  Savioui. 
They  had  relapsed,  too,  into  their  old  sins  of  marrying  heathen  wives,  which  Ezra  had 
sternly  prohibited,  and  labored  to  reform. 

Bishop  Lowth  here  remarks,  "  that  Malachi  is  written  in  a  mediocre  style,  which  seems 
to  indicate  that  the  Hebrew  poetry,  from  the  time  of  the  Babylonish  captivity,  was  in  a  de- 
clining state,  and  being  past  its  prime  and  vigor,  was  then  fast  verging  towards  the  debility 
of  age."  Gesenius  classes  him  also  in  the  silver  age  of  the  Hebrew  language,  and  thus  de- 
cidedly inferior  to  the  earlier  writers.  On  the  contrary,  Ewald,  who  is  a  competent,  and 
certainly  unbiased  judge,  pronounces  his  style  as  not  lacking  in  smoothness  and  elegance ; 
and  Kohler  regards  it  as  forcible  and  remarkably  pure,  for  the  time,  in  its  diction  and 
syntax,  and  his  reasoning  as  concise  and  cogent.  His  descriptions  of  the  original  type  of 
the  priesthood,  his  prophecies  of  the  sun  of  righteousness,  of  the  Angel  of  the  Covenant, 
and  of  the  great  and  terrible  day  of  judgment,  are  glowing  and  fervid.  Ewald  has  re- 
marked upon  a  peculiarity  of  his  style  —  in  his  first  laying  down  moral  and  religious  axioms, 
as  a  foundation,  and  then  reasoning  from  them,  and  refuting  in  the  form  of  a  dialogue  any 
objections  which  might  be  brought  against  them.  The  prophecy  of  Malachi  has  been  al- 
ways regarded  as  one  of  great  importance.  The  Church  of  Rome,  it  is  well  known,  has 
found  in  the  "  pure  offering,"  of  Malachi  i.  11,  its  principal  proof-text  of  the  doctrine  of  the 
Mass. 

The  contents  of  the  prophecy  are  principally  of  a  threatening  character.  Afler  an  intro- 
duction, in  which  the  Prophet  proves  the  love  of  God  to  the  people,  as  the  foundation  of  the 
following  rebukes  and  exhortations,  he  turns,  first  of  all  to  the  priests,  and  threatens  them 
with  severe  punishment  for  their  open  contempt  of  the  law,  and  their  unfaithfulness  in  their 
office. 

The  next  rebuke  is  administered  to  those  who  had  divorced  their  Jewish  wives,  in  order 
to  contract  marriages  with  heathen  wives.  He  rebukes  the  irreligion  of  the  people,  their 
denial  of  God's  justice,  and  their  withholding  tithes  and  offerings.  The  Prophet  assures 
them  that  the  awful  day  of  divine  judgment,  in  which  God  will  reward  the  righteous  and 
punish  the  wicked,  will  surely  come,  and  that  God  would  graciously  send  his  messenger 
Elijah  the  Prophet,  before  his  coming. 

The  last  words  of  the  Old  Testament,  "  The  Angel  of  the  Covenant,  —  Elijah  the 
Prophet,"  have  hardly  died  upon  the  ear,  when  John  the  Baptist,  standing  at  the  threshold 
of  the  New  Testament,  echoes  the  voice  of  Malachi,  and  cries  out  in  the  wilderness,  "  I  am 
the  voice  of  one  crying  in  the  wilderness,  as  it  is  written  in  the  Prophet,  Behold,  I  send  my 
messenger,  before  thy  face,  which  shall  prepare  thy  way  before  me." 

S  2.    Analysis  of  the  Book. 

Most  Commentators,  following  Jahn  in  his  Hebrew  Bible,  and  Introduction  to  the  Old 
Testament,  divide  the  prophecy  into  six  sections. 

1.  Chap.  i.  1-6.  Introduction.  Expostulation  of  Jehovah  with  Israel.  He  proves  hia 
distinguishing  love  by  comparing  their  condition  with  that  of  Edom,  and  thus  refutes  their 
complaint,  that  he  has  not  loved  them. 

2.  Chaps,  i.  6-ii.  10.  Rebuke  of  the  Priests,  for  their  offering  unlawful  sacrifices,  and 
thus  profaning  God's  ordinances,  for  their  perversion  of  the  law.  Prophecy  of  the  pure  and 
spiritual  worship  of  Jehovah  among  the  heathen. 

3.  Chap.  ii.  10-16.  Rebuke  of  unfaithfulness  in  the  marriage  relation  by  marrying  heathen 
frives,  and  divorcing  Israelitish  wives. 

4.  The  sending  of  Jehovah's  messenger  to  prepare  the  way  for  the  unexpected  coming  of 
the  Messiah,  to  judge,  but  not  utterly  to  destroy  Israel  (chaps,  ii.  1 7-iii.  7). 

6.  Rebuke  of  the  people  for  withholding  the  legal  tithes  and  offerings,  and  thus  defraud- 
ing God  (chap.  iii.  7-13^. 


INTRODUCTION. 


6.  Prediction  of  the  destiny  of  the  righteous  and  the  wicked.  Exhortation  to  observe 
the  law.  Another  Elijah  to  come.  Threatenings,  if  they  do  not  repent  and  flee  from  the 
wrath  to  come,  of  a  curse  of  utter  destruction  upon  the  land. 

§  3.     Unusual  Words  and  Faaas^in  Malachi. 

Chap.  i.  3.  nisi?,  for  C'2n.  The  verb,  tt'ttn,  i.  4.  The  combination  of  b^'lD,  with  b, 
i.  5.  The  meaning  of  n^^^,  i-  10,  11-13  ;  ii.  13  ;  iii.  4.  The  word  n^^D,  i.  12.  The  verli 
b23,  i.  14  ;  the  form  nntt^ip,  i.  14.  The  unusual  meaning  of  nj^JD,  ii.  1.  The  use  o. 
7Sbn.  ii.  7;  iii.  1.  The  expression  ~1D3  bS"ri2,  ii.  11.  The  proverb  HQ^"]  T^,  "•  12; 
the  expression,  H''^?  Htt^S,  ii.  15.  The  form  of  the  participle,  S^ffi^,  ii.  16 ;  the  title 
n"*"12n  "isbtt,  iii.   1 ;  the  word  n"*"!!!!,  iii.   2  ;   the  construction  in  iii.  5,  ~13tt7  pt7^.    The 

•:-'-:-  ■  'tt'-t 

verb  373  p,  iii.  8  ;  the  proverb  ^l"'^:il'lV,  iii.  10  ;    the  word  iT^a^ip,  used  only  in  iii.  14 ; 
the  proverb  ^^V")  Wi^W,  iii.  19 ;  the  verb  DD^,  iii.  21. 

§  4.    Literature. 

Jerome,  Comm.  in  Mai,  in  his  Opera,  vol.  vi.,  Migne's  edition,  Paris,  1845  ;  J.  Calvin  on  the 
Minor  Prophets  (Eng.  translation  by  Owen),  Edinb.  1849  ;  David  Chytraeus,  Explic.  Malachi, 
Rost.,  1568  ;  J.  J.  Grynaeus,  Hypomnemata  in  Mai.,  Geneva,  1582 ;  Sam.  Bohlius,  Malachias, 
Rost.,  1637  ;  Sclater  On  Malachi,  London,  1650 ;  J.  H.  Ursini,  Comment,  in  Malach.,  Fref., 
1652  ;  Stock  On  Malachi,  London,  1641  ;  Poll,  Synopsis,  London,  1673  ;  Marck  on  the 
Minor  Prophets,  Amst.,  1701  ;  Sal.  von  Til,  Malach.  Illustratus,  1701  ;  J.  C.  Hebenstreit, 
Interp.  Malachice,  1731  ;  J.  H.  Michaelis,  iJ(Ma  Heby-aica,  KaWe,  1720;  Joa.  Wesselius,  Mal- 
achias, Lubec,  1729  ;  E.  Pocock  On  Malachi,  London,  1740  ;  C.  F.  Bahrdt,  Comm.  in  Malach., 
1768;  J.  M.  Faber,  Comm.  in  Mai.,  1779;  Vitringa,  De  Malach.  Ohservationes,  1712;  H. 
Venema,  Comm.  ad.  Mai.,  Leon,  1759;  J.  Jahn,  Vaticinia  de  Messia,  Vienna,  1813;  P.  F. 
Ackermann,  Prophetce  Minores,  1830  ;  W-'  Newcome,  Minor  Prophets,  London,  1836  ;  E.  F. 
C.  Rosenmiiller,  Scholia,  Lipsise,  1836  ;  G.  R.  Noyes,  New  Translation  of  the  Prophets,  Bos- 
ton, 1837  ;  F.  I.  V.  D.  Maurer,  Comm.,  Lipsise,  1837  ;  E.  Henderson,  Minor  Prophets,  Lon- 
don, 1845  ;  L.  Reinke  (R.  C),  Der  Prophet  Malachi,  Giessen,  1852  ;  T.  V.  Moore,  Prophets 
of  the  Restoration,  New  York,  1856  ;  E.  W.  Hengstenberg,  Christology  of  the  0.  T.,  2d  ed. 
vol.  iv.  pp.  156-258  (transl.  by  Meyer),  Edinburgh,  1858;  F.  Hitzig,  Exegetisches  Handbuch, 
Leipz.,  1866  ;  A.  Kohler,  Die  Nachexilischen  Propheten,  Erlangen,  1865  ;  H.  Ewald,  Die 
Jungsten  Propheten,  Gotting.,  1868  ;  Keil,  on  the  Minor  Prophets  (Engl,  transl.  by  Martin), 
Edinb.,  1868  ;  W.  Pressel,  Commentar  zu  den  nachexilischen  Propheten,  Gotha,  1870  (origi- 
nally intended  for  Lange's  Bibelwerk,  but  published  independently)  ;  C.  Wordsworth,  Comm. 
on  the  0.  T.  (vol.  vi.),  containing  Daniel  and  the  Minor  Prophets,  London,  1872. 


\ 


THE  PROPHET  MALACHI. 


SECTION  L 

Chapter  I.  1-5. 

6rO(f »  peculiar  Love  to  Israel  above  Edom. 

2  The  burden  *  of  the  word  of  the  Lord  to  Israel  by  Malachi.  I  have  loved '  yon 
saith  the  Lord.  Yet  ye  say,  wherein  hast  thou  loved  us  ?  Was  not  Esau  Jacob'* 
brother  ?  saith  the  Lord  :  yet  I  loved  Jacob,  And  I  hated  Esau,  and  laid  his  moun 
tains  and  his  heritage  waste  for  the  dragons'  [jackals]  of  the  wilderness.  Whereas 
Edom  saith,  We  are  impoverished  *  [ruined],  but  we  will  return  [again]  and  build 
the  desolate  places ;  thus  saith  the  Lord  of  Hosts,  They  shall  build,  but  I  will  throw 
down  ;  and  they  shall  call  them,  The  border  of  wickedness,  and.  The  people  against 
whom  the  Lord  hath  indignation  for  ever.  And  your  eyes  shall  see,  and  ye  shall 
say,  The  Lord  will  be  magnified  *  [great  is  Jehovah]  from  *  the  border  of  Israel. 


TEXTUAL  AND  GRAMMATICAL. 
(A  new  translaHon  will  be  given  at  the  end  of  the  Commentaiy.) 

1  V«r.  1.  —  "12"T  Si^D,  found  only  together  in  Zech.  ix.  1,  xli.  1,  followed  by  2,  bp,  bW,  to  determine  Iti  i*. 
Ution  to  the  object. ' 

3  Ver.  1.  —  The  LXX.  have  inserted,  before  "  I  have  loved  " :    Lay  to  heart,  or,  consider,  a»  in  Haggid  L  7,  IL  1ft. 

«  Ver.  3.  —  niSJri,  a  fern.  pi.  for  D''3ri  (so  Ewald,  Reinke)  from  ^^1,   Micah  1.  8;  Is.  xiil.  22. 

4  Ver.  4.  —  !13Ci7t^n,  pual  of  27271,  to  be  destroyed,  not  from  ti??!"),   as  our  version  makes  it. 

6  Ver.  6.  — Qreat  be 'Jehovah!  praised  as  great  and  glorious.      See  Ps.  xsxv.  27,  xl.  17,  where  the  same 
•eenn. 

6  Ver.  6.  —  b^P,  over,  above,  Neh.  ill.  28 ;  Ecc.  v.  7,  not  beyond  the  border,  the  land  of  Israel. 


SXXQBTICAL  AMD  CBITICAL. 

Ver.  1 .  The  burden  of  the  word  of  the  Lord. 
Some  of  the  recent  German  Commentators,  fol- 
lowing Vitringa,  understand  by  burden  (W^^^) 
nothing  more  than  a  divine  speech,  prophecy,  or  ut- 
terance, so  that  it  would  mean,  "  the  speech  of 
Babylon,  Damascus,  Egypt,  Moab,"  instead  of  the 
btirden  upon  these  countries.  Jerome  remarks  : 
"  The  word  massa  is  never  placed  in  the  title, 
gave  when  the  vision  is  heavy  and  full  of  burden 
and  toil."  In  this  interpretation  he  has  been  fol- 
lowed by  Hengstenberg,  who  has  fully  discussed 
the  subject,  and  by  Kohler  and  Keil.  Henderson 
has  translated  it  sentence.  The  connection  in  the 
first  verse  with  word  shows  that  it  means  some- 
thing more,  or  it  would  have  been  superfluous. 
Eleven  times  in  Isaiah  (xiii.  1  ;  xiv.  28 ;  xv.  1  ; 
xvii.  1  ;  xix.  1  ;  xxi.  1, 11,  13 ;  xxiii.  I ),  in  Ezek- 


iel  xii.  10 ;  Hab.  i.  1  ;  Zech.  ix.  I ;  xli.  1,  it  u 

followed  by  a  prophecy  of  a  threatening  nature. 
In  Jeremiah  xxiii.  33,  xxxiv.  36,  the  meaning 
burden,  heavy  prophecy  is  presupposed.  The  peo- 
ple, whenever  they  met  the  prophets,  asked  scoff- 
ingly,  if  they  had  received  any  new  massa,  or 
burden.  "  What  is  the  burden  of  the  Lord  1 "  not 
believing  that  the  predicted  evil  would  come.  As  a 
punishment  for  their  blasphemy  God  declares  (ver. 
39)  "I  will  burden  you."  See  Lange  on  Jeremiah 
xxiii.  33-40 ;  Alexander  on  Isaiah  xiii  I . 

To  Israel,  not  concerning  Israel,  but  to,  as  ^M 
shows.  By  Israel  is  meant  here  not  the  kingdom 
of  Israel  as  distinct  from  that  of  Judah,  but  the 
small  colony  composed  of  all  the  tribes  who  had 
returned  to  Judaea  after  the  Captivity,  and  thus  be- 
came the  central  point  of  the  divine  promises  and 
threatenings.  Those  who  did  not  return  lost  the 
name  of  Israel,  while  those  who  did  were  called 
Israel  by  way  of  eminence,  as  those  to  whom  the 


MALACHi. 


promises  were  made.     Nehemiah  and  Ezra  use  the 
word  Israel  in  the  same  way. 

By  Malachi,  through  Malachi.  The  Hebrew  is, 
by  the  hand  of  Malachi.  Kohler,  Ewald,  and  De- 
litzsch  have  discussed  the  question,  whether  the 
prophecy,  as  it  now  is,  was  delivered  orallfi  to  the 
people,  and  have  concluded  that  we  have  only  the 
substance  of  the  more  copious  oral  addresses  of  the 
prophet,  at  different  times,  brought  together  into 
one  single  prophecy.  The  Septuagint,  as  we  have 
already  remarked  in  the  Introduction,  has  trans- 
lated it,  eV  X*'pi  orfyiKov  uhrov,  hy  the  hand  of  his 
angel. 

Ver.  2.  I  have  loved  you,  saith  Jehovah. 
The  whole  prophecy  represents  the  relations  of 
Jehovah  to  his  people,  first,  as  their  Father  and 
Lord,  secondly,  as  their  only  God,  and  final  Judge. 

The  Prophet  introduces  Jehovah  as  declaring 
his  love  to  them,  as  the  foundation  of  the  rebukes, 
threatenings,  exhortations,  and  promises,  which 
follow.  This  love  of  Jehovah  to  them  laid  them 
under  obligation  to  love  Him  in  return,  and  to 
keep  his  commandments.  It  is  because  He  loved 
the  people  that  He  rebuked  and  chastened  them. 

In  reply  to  the  people,  who  ask  for  proofs  of 
Jehovah's  love,  he  condescends  to  appeal  to  facts 
in  their  histoi-y,  and  in  his  dealings  with  them, 
that  clearly  prove  this  love.  Was  not  Esau  a 
brother  of  Jacob's  ?  saith  Jehovah,  yet  I  loved 
Jacob,  and  hated  Esau.  The  question  is  put  in 
this  way,  and  the  names  of  Jacob  and  Esau  men- 
tioned, rather  than  those  of  Israel  and  Edom,  to 
call  attention  to  the  fact,  that,  though  they  were 
brothers,  and  sustained  the  same  relation  to  Jeho- 
vah, so  that  it  might  have  been  expected,  that  He 
would  have  dealt  with  both  alike,  yet  He  had  not 
done  so,  neither  in  their  own  persons  nor  in  their 
posterit} ,  so  that  judging  from  the  results  we  might 
regard  the  one  as  loved  and  the  other  as  hated. 

That  the  word  hate  is  not  used  here  in  its 
strongest  sense,  is  clear  from  several  passages  of 
Scripture,  as  where  Leah  says  that  she  was  hated 
by  Jacob  (Ggii.  xxix.  33),  and  in  Deut.  xxi.  15, 
wheie  the  case  is  put  of  a  man's  having  two  wives, 
one  beloved  and  the  other  hated,  and  in  Luke  xvi. 
1 3,  where  it  is  said  of  a  servant  with  two  masters, 
that  he  will  hate  the  one  and  love  the  other,  and 
Luke  xiv.  26,  compared  with  Matthew  x.  37,  where 
the  hating  one's  father  and  mother  is  interpreted 
by  loving  less.  St.  Paul,  in  Rom.  ix.  11,  refers  to 
Jacob  and  Esau  as  illustrations  of  the  purpose  of 
God,  according  to  election.  Their  history  typified 
and  conditioned  that  of  their  posterity. 

Ver.  3.  And  his  inheritance  for  the  jackals 
of  the  desert.  We  are  not  informed  when  and 
by  whom  this  utter  desolation  of  Edom  took  place. 
Jahn  and  Hitzig  ascribe  it  to  the  Persians,  so  also 
Kohler ;  Koil  and  others  to  the  Chaldseans,  fulfill- 
ing thus  the  prophecies  of  Amos,  Obadiah,  Isaiah, 
Jeremiah,  and  Ezekiel. 

The  word  translated  in  the  A.  V.  dragons 
should  be  rather  translated,  jackals,  with  the  Jew- 
ish Commentators,  and  Ewald,  Kohler,  Umbreit, 
Reinke,  Stier,  Pressel.  Our  version  follows  Je- 
rome, Luther,  Calvin,  Bochart,  Cocceiiis,  J.  H. 
Michaelis,  who  translate  it  serpents,  or  dragons. 
The  Septuagint  translates  it,  Scifiara  eprj/uov, 
iesert  dwellings,  in  which  they  are  followed  by  De 
Wette  ( Wohnungen),  Gesenius,  Maurer,  Rosen 
miiller,  Rodiger,  Fiirst,  Henderson,  and  Noyes. 

The  word  in  this  form  is  found  only  here.  We 
regard  it  with  Kohler,  Keil,   and  others,  as    the 

"eminine  plural  of  ]i^.     The  masculine  plural  is 


found,  Ps.  xliv.  20  ;  Ixiii.  10  ;  Is.  xiii.  22  ;  xxxiv 
13  ;  XXXV.  7  ;  xliii.  20;  Jer.  ix.  11  ;  x.  22 ;  xlix 
33  ;  li.  37 ;  Lam.  iv.  3  (where  it  is  strangelj 
translated  sea  monsters)  ;  and  is  translated  in 
our  version  dragons.  In  Isaiah  xiii  22,  Mi- 
cah  i.  8,  they  are  represented  as  crying  and  wail- 
ing, so  they  could  not  have  been  dragons,  or  ser- 
pents.       "  I 

Ver.  4.  "Whereas  Edom  saith,  or  rather,  al- 
though  Edom  should  say,  we  are  ruined,  but  we  will 
again  rebuild  the  ruins,  Thus  saith  Jehovah  of 
Hosts,  or  Jehovah  of  Sabaoth.  Hengstenberg 
has  labored  to  show,  in  opposition  to  Gesenius, 
that  Sabaoth  is  in  apposition  with  Jehovah,  and 
to  be  separated  from  it  by  a  comma,  as  a  special 
appellation  of  God.  It  is  translated  by  the  Septua- 
gint, -navTOKpoLTcap  (Almighty),  twenty-four  times 
in  Malachi,  and  passes  over  into  the  New  Testa- 
ment in  2  Cor.  vi.  18,  The  Lord  Almighty ;  the  Al- 
mighty, in  Rev.  i.  8  ;  Lord  God  Almighty,  Rev.  iv. 
8,  and  frequently. 

While  Israel  was  rebuilding  its  ruins,  all  the  at- 
tempts of  Edom  to  repair  its  desolations  will  prove 
abortive. 

The  border  of  wickedness.  By  the  word  bor- 
der is  meant  here  the  land,  with  its  inhabitants. 
When  Edom  fails  to  recover  its  former  prosperity 
all  men  must  acknowledge  that  it  is  a  perpetual 
monument  of  God's  wrath. 

Ver.  5.  Great  is  Jehovah  over  the  land  ot 
Israel.  Hitzig,  Maurer,  Ewald,  Umbreit,  Reinke, 
Noyes,  Pressel,  understand  this  clause  to  mean, 
that  from  the  doom  of  Edom  Israel  will  be  forced 
to  confess  that  Jehovah  is  not  only  great  in  Israel, 
but  beyond  its  borders.  Henderson,  following  Aben 
Ezra,  connects,  fi-om  the  border  of  Israel  with  the 
ye  of  the  preceding  clause,  ye  from  the  border  oj 
Israel.  But,  as  beyond  is  an  unprecedented  mean- 
ing of  ^'^^i  as  Israel  had  no  doubt  that  Jehovah 
ruled  beyond  the  borders  of  Israel,  we  had  better 
understand  it  to  mean,  that  Israel,  by  contrasting 
its  condition  with  that  of  Edom,  will  be  more 
deeply  convinced  that  Jehovah's  government  of 
his  people  Israel  was  a  gracious  one.  As  the  fu- 
ture precedes  the  subject  it  had  better  be  trans- 
lated, says  Kohler,  as  an  optative.  May  Jehovah  be 
praised !  but  it  is  more  congruous  to  the  context 
to  translate  it.  Great  is  Jehovah  over  the  borders 
of  Israel !  as  in  Ps.  xxxv.  27,  where  it  is  to  be 
translated,  Great  is  Jehovah  !  See  Alexander  and 
Delitzsch  on  the  35th  Psalm,  also  on  Ps.  xl.  17, 
where  the  same  words  occur. 


DOCTRINAL,  HOMILETICAL,  AND  PRACTICAL 

W.  Pressel  :  We  cannot  more  correctly  and 
fiillv  express  the  meaning  of  these  prophetic  words, 
than  the  Apostle  Paul  has  done  in  two  passages  in 
Rom.  ix.  7,  1 1  :  "  Neither  because  they  are  the  seed 
of  Abraham  are  they  all  children  ;  "  and,  "  Not 
of  works,  but  of  him  that  calleth  : "  for  the  Apos- 
tle as  well  as  the  Prophet  recognizes  in  the  relation 
of  Esau  and  Jacob,  and  oi  the  descendants  of 
both,  a  striking  example,  that  descent  from  one 
and  the  same  patriarch  is  not  the  ground  of  one 
and  the  same  election  on  the  part  of  God,  but  that 
it  is  his  free  grace,  which  uses  one  as  an  instru- 
ment for  the  kingdom  of  God,  and  the  other  not, 
and  according  to  which  the  one  does  not  frustrate 
the  saving  purpose  of  God.  through  his  want  of 
faithfulness,  and  the  other,  in  spite  of  all  his  «f 
forts,  does  not  obtain  salvation  for  himself.    And 


CHAPTEUS  1.  0-11.  lU. 


9 


yet,  in  the  worJs  of  the  ])ropIiet,  as  well  as  of  the 
Apostle,  the  close  connectiou  of  jjjuiJt  on  the  part 
of  the  individual,  with  the  rejection  on  the  part  of 
God,  is  also  intimated.  At,  much  as  in  the  Old 
Covenant  the  circle  of  revelation  was  limited,  and 
necessarily  so,  to  the  people  of  Israel,  so  rich  is 
this  revelation,  however,  especially  by  the  prophets 
in  hints  that  the  decree  and  glory  of  Jehovah 
should  extend  beyond  the  limits  of  Isi'ael,  if  even 
at  lir^t  only  in  the  execution  of  his  judgments, 
which  were  necessary  to  prepare  the  way  among 
the  heathen  for  the  visitation  of  grace. 


HOMILETICAL  HINTS. 

Ver.  2.  As  there  lies  in  the  address  of  Jehovah 
the  key  to  the  understanding  of  the  history  of  our 
life,  so  there  lies  in  the  reply  of  Israel  the  key  to 
the  understanding  of  our  hearts.  The  history  of 
our  life  appears,  according  to  it,  as  a  history  of 
love,  wherein  the  bitter  as  well  as  the  sweet  have 
only  our  good  for  their  end,  and  as  a  decree  of 
love,  according  to  which  nothing  is  accidental,  but 
all  ordained  from  eternity.  Our  heart  appears  in 
it  in  its  blindness,  since  though  the  proofs  of  God's 
love  are  very  plain  yet  we  fail  to  understand  them, 
and  in  its  ingratitude,  and  disti-ust  the  source  of 
this  blindness;  or,  the  history  of  our  life  confirms 
to  us  what  the  Lord  here  testifies,  and  our  perverse 
and  desponding  heart  at  least  thinks  what  Israel 
here  objects. 

On  ver.  3.  May  it  be  deeply  impressed  upon  my 
heart  what  a  happiness  it  is  to  be  a  Christian ! 
for  how  does  the  heathen  world  appear  to  us,  when 
we  look  at  the  blessings  of  Christianity !  The 
heathen  are  by  nature  our  brethren,  as  Edom  was 
the  brother  of  Israel,  and  yet  what  a  waste  and 
kingdom  of  Satan  is  the  heathen  world  !  In  what 
light  does  Christianity  appear  to  us,  when  we  look 
at  the  curse  of  heathenism  !  What  do  we  not  en- 
joy in  the  knowledge  of  the  love  of  God  to  us  in 
Jesus  Christ,  and  in  communion  with  Him,  and 
in  all  the  blessings  in  heart  and  house,  in  the  social 
and  domestic  circle,  which  flow  to  us  therefrom, 
and  yet  how  little  have  we  deserved  it,  and  how 
little  is  this  blessing  from  step  to  step  our  work ! 

Ver.  4.  The  world's  defiance  of  God's  decree  : 
It  breaks  down,  He  builds  up  ;  it  builds,  He  breaks 
down. 

On  the  whole  section  i.  1-6.  The  gracious  elec- 
tion of  God  is  the  golden  thread,  which  runs 
through  not  only  the  history  of  Israel,  but  through 


the  whole  histoi-y  of  the  kingdom  of  God  ujion 
eaith  ;  but  it  is  yet  neither  an  "  order  of  merit  " 
for  us,  it  rather  humbles  and  disciplines,  and  spun 
us  on  ;  it  is  only  a  cord  of  love  by  which  the  Lord 
draws  us,  while  it  brings  destruction  to  those 
like  the  children  of  Edom.  Love  and  hatred  in 
the  heart  of  God!  What  does  the  New  Testa* 
ment  say  to  this  prophetic  expression  1  What 
does  the  history  of  the  Church  of  Christ  say  to 
it  ?  What  does  the  witness  of  the  Holy  Ghost  in 
our  hearts  say  to  it  1 

Ver.  5.  Then  and  now!  Then,  the  word  of 
promise  sounded,  Great  is  the  Lord  beyond  th« 
limits  of  Israel !  and  the  promise  found  its  fulfill- 
ment in  the  history  of  the  mission  to  the  Gentiles. 
Now,  the  word  of  promise  sounds,  Great  is  the 
Lord  among  Israel !  and  the  promise  finds  like- 
wise its  fulfillment  in  the  history  of  the  mission 
to  the  Jews. 

E.  PococK,  Professor  of  Hebrew  in  Oxford  and 
Canon  of  Christ  Church  :  "  J  loved  Jacob,"  etc. 
The  Apostle  St.  Paul,  in  Rom.  ix.  11,  improveth 
this  argument  from  thence,  that  this  love  to  the 
one  and  hatred  to  the  other  was  declarea,  when 
those  children  were  not  yet  born,  so  that  it  could 
not  be  said  that  one  had  deserved  better  than  the 
other,  and  therefore  his  love  to  one  above  the  other 
must  needs  appear  to  be  of  free  grace  and  choice, 
electing  one,  and  rejecting  the  other ;  and  the  dis- 
tinction was  both  in  their  temporal  and  spiritual 
state.  But  the  literal  explication  of  the  words  re- 
quires no  more  than  the  particular  effect  of  his 
love  to  Jacob's  posterity  and  hatred  to  Esau's,  here 
instanced  in  the  utter  desolation  of  Esau's  coun- 
try, and  the  restitution  of  Israel's,  the  punishment 
proving  to  the  one  utter  destruction,  to  the  other 
a  fatherly  chastisement. 

[Bishop  Wordsworth,  representing  another 
school  in  the  Church  of  England,  remarks  on  vers. 
2,  3  :  The  doctrine,  taught  by  St.  Paul  in  Rom. 
ix.  13,  which  has  been  much  misrepresented  and 
distorted  by  .•^orae  Calvinistic  teachers,  may  be  il- 
lustrated by  the  divine  words  here.  The  love  of 
God  towards  Jacob,  as  St.  Cyril  remarks,  was  not 
without  foresight  of  Jacob's  faithfulness  and  piety 
as  compared  with  Esau.  The  hatred  of  God  to- 
ward Esau,  "  a  profane  person,  who  despised  his 
birthright,"  was  certainly  no  arbitrary  nor  capri- 
cious passion.  And  if  we  extend  these  words  to 
Edom,  we  find  it  bringing  God's  judgments  on 
itself  by  its  unmerciful  and  revengeful  spirit  to- 
wards Israel.  See  Ps.  cxxxvii.  7 ;  Is.  Ixiii.  1  ;  Ob.  8. 
—  P.  S.l 


SECTION  n. 
Chapters  I.  6-11.  10. 


Rebuke  of  the  Priests. 

6  A  son  honoreth^  his  father,  and  a  servant  his  master :  if  then  1  be  a,  father  pjut 
if  1  am]  where  is  mine  honor  ?  and  if  I  5e  a  master,  where  is  my  fear?  saith  the 
Lord  of  Hosts  unto  you,  O  [ye]   priests,  that  despise  my  name.     And  ye  say, 

7  "Wherein  have  we  despised  thy  name?  Ye  offer ^  [offering]  polluted  bread  upon 
mine  altar  ;  and  ye  say,  Wherein  have  we  polluted  thee  ?    In  that  ye  say,  The  tabl« 


10  MAtACHI. 

8  of  the  Lord  is  contemptible.  And  if  ye  offer  the  blind  for  sacrifice,  It  is  not  evil. 
And  if  ye  offer  the  lame  and  sick,  /;;  is  not  evil.  Offer  it  now  unto  thy  governor; 
will  he  be  pleased   with  thee,  or  accept  thy   person,   saith    the   Lord  of  Hosts  ? 

9  And  now,  I  pray  you,  beseech  God  that  He  will  be  gracious  unto  us :  this  hath 
been  by  your  means  *  [hand]  ;  will  he  regard  your  persons  ?  saith  the   Lord  of 

10  Hosts.  Who  is  there  ^  even  among  you  [0,  that  there  were  one  among  you  !]  that 
would  shut  the  doors  for  nought  ? '  Neither  do  ye  kindle  Jire  on  mine  altar  for 
nought.     I  have  no  pleasure  in  you,  saith  the  Lord  of  Hosts,  neither  will  I  accept 

11  an  offering  at  your  hand.  For  from  the  rising  of  the  sun  even  unto  the  going 
down  of  the  same  my  name  shall  be  great  among  the  Gentiles  ;  and  in  every 
place  incense  shall  be  offered  unto  my  name,  and  [indeed,  Keii  and  Kohier]  a  pure  offer- 
ing :    for  my  name  shall  be  great  among  the  heathen,  saith  the  Lord  of  Hosts. 

12  But  ye  have  profaned  it,  in  that  ye  say.  The  table  of  the  Lord  is  polluted ;  and 

13  the  fruit  thereof,  even  his  meat,  [its  food]  is  contemptible.  Ye  said  also.  Behold, 
what  a  weariness  is  it!  and  ye  have  snuffed  [puffed]  at  it,  saith  the  Lord  of  Hosts ; 
and  ye  brought  that  which  was  torn*  [stolen],  and  the  lame,  and  the  sick ;  thus  ye 
brought  an  offering :    should  I  accept  this  of  your  hand  ?  saith  the  Lord.     But 

J  4  [And]  cursed  be  the  deceiver,  which  hath  in  his  flock  a  male,  and  voweth,  and 
sacrificeth  imto  the  Lord  a  corrupt  thing  ^^  [an  unsuitable  animal]  ;  for  I  aw  a  great 
King,  saith  the  Lord  of  Hosts,  and  my  name  i$  dreadful  among  the  heathen. 

Chapter  II. 

1  And  now,  O  ye  priests,  this  commandment "  [sentence,  decree]  is  for  you.     If  ye 

2  will  not  hear,  and  if  ye  will  not  lay  it  to  heart,  to  give  glory  unto  my  name,  saith 
the  Lord  of  Hosts,  I  will  even  send  a  curse  upon  you,  and  I  will  curse  your  bless- 

3  ings  :  yea,  I  have  cursed  them  already,  because  ye  do  not  lay  it  to  heart.  Behold, 
I  will  corrupt  ^  [rebuke,  as  in  ch.  iii.  ii ;  Vs..  cTi.  9 ;  Is.  xvii.  18]  youF  Seed,  and  spread 
dung  upon  your  faces,  even  the  dung  of  your  solemn  feasts ;  and  one  shall  take 

4  you  away  with  it.^^  And  ye  shall  know  that  I  have  sent  this  commandment 
unto  you,  that  my  covenant  might  be  with  Levi,  saith  the  Lord  of  Hosts.     My 

5  covenant  was  with  him  of  life  and  peace ;  and  I  gave  them  to  him  for  the  fear 

6  wherewith  he  feared  me,  and  was  afraid  before  my  name.  The  law  of  truth  was 
in  his  mouth,  and  iniquity  was  not  found  in  his  lips :  he  walked  with  me  in  peace 
and  equity,  and  did  turn  many  away  from  iniquity.  For  the  priest's  lips  should 
keep  knowledge,  and  they  should  seek   the  law  at   his  mouth :    for  he  is  the 

8  messenger  of  the  Lord  of  Hosts.  But  ye  are  departed  out  of  the  way ;  ye  have 
caused  many  to  stumble  at  the  law  ;  ye  have  corrupted  "  [or  made  void]  the  cove- 

9  nant  of  Levi,  saith  the  Lord  of  Hosts.  Therefore  have  I  also  made  you  contempt- 
ible and  base  before  all  the  people,  according  as  "  [because]  ye  have  not  kept  my 
ways,  but  have  been  partial  in  the  law. 

TEXTUAL  AND  GRAMMATICAL. 
1   fer.  6.  —  ^n^P^  ia  not  to  be  understood  as  Jussiye,  in  the  sense  of  a  son  should  honor,  bnt  as  a  ftatura  of  etutoa 
m  Mbge.     The  suffix  In  ^"T"133,  my  honor,  is  objectire,  as  in  Gen.  ix.  2  ;  Ex.  xx.  17  ;  Pi.  xc.  11. 

3  Ver.  7.  —  The  flnt  olanae  is  the  answer  to  the  last  clause  of  rer.  6.     U^'^IlQ  ia  naed  in  Malachi  11.  12,  iii.  8,  and  la 

Lbt.  11.  8,  Amos  T.  25,  of  offering.     2^|2,  nsed  in  ver.  8 :  OfTer  it  now  to  thy  goremor,  la  the  more  common  word  tat 
tOsring. 
8  Vei.  8.  —  No  question.    This  greatly  weakens  Its  force. 

4  Ver.  •.  — Means  (Hebrew  1"*,  hand.) 

6  Ver.  10.  —  Q2^,  not  causal,  but  emphatic,  and  partltlTe. 

8  Ver.  10.  —  Who  is  there,  etc.,  for :  0,  that  there  were  *      for  tlie  Hebrew  idiom,  nxiiilim  ■  wUi,  see  Ps.  It.  7  { 

2  Sam.  XV.  4,  xxiii.  15 ;  Job  xix.  23. 

■"  Ver.  10.  —  33n,  to  no  purpose,  not  gratis. 
•  Ver.  18.  —   V^t3,  stolen,  not  torn. 

•  Ver.  18.  -  n«bniD  f>r  nsbn-HD. 


CHAPTERS  I.  6-II.  10. 


11 


1*  Ver.  14.  —  nntpQ.     fern.  Part.  Hophal.    The  old  rersioiu,  and  many  modem  commentators,  ponotDutte  It  witk 

t  final  Kamets,  as  masculine.     It  occurs  in  this  lorm  in  ProT.  xir.  26.    It  corresponds  to  *13T   male. 

T  -' 
11  Ch.  2,  Ter.  1.  —  nilJTD,  sentence. 

13  Ver.  3.  —  1"^2.  Tins  verb,  translated  "corrupt,"  occurs  twelve  times  elsewhere,  and  is  always  translated:  raboks 

IS  Ver.  3.  —  CD 7.    Dative  of  disadvantage. 

U  Ver.  8. —  nn*'",  to  make  void. 
-  T  ' 

U  Ver.  9.  —  ^S3,  because  (De  Wette,  da/ur)  (Kohler,  Dieweil). 


KXEQBTICAL  AND  CRITICAL. 

Ver.  6.  A  son  honoreth  his  father,  etc.  Je- 
hovah expostulates  with  the  priests  for  the  unnat- 
uralness  of  their  disobedience.  They  stood  in  a 
peculiar  relation  to  Him,  were  under  peculiar  ol)li- 
gations  to  sanctify  Him  in  the  eyes  of  the  people, 
and  yet  they  had  profaned  his  name,  and  made  Is- 
rael to  sin.  Jehovah  begins  with  an  indisputable 
moral  principle.  No  one  would  deny  that  a  son 
was  bound  to  love  and  obey  a  ftvther,  and  a  servant 
to  fear  and  obey  his  master.  But  if  I  am  a  father. 
He  s|K'ak8  in  a  conditional  form,  though  Israel 
could  not  deny  it,  as  though  He  would  leave  it  to 
Israel  to  acknowledge  Him  as  such  or  not.  Jeho- 
vah was  the  Father  of  Israel,  and  Ephraim  was 
his  son.      He  was  without  dispute  their  master. 

My  honor,  my  fear.  The  suffixes  are  used  here 
m  an  objective  sense,  the  honor  due  me,  the  fear 
of  me.  The  priests,  instead  of  confessing  their 
guilt,  with  hypocritical  self-righteousness  deny  the 
charge  of  despising  Jehovah's  name,  and  demand 
the  proofs  of  this  charge.  Yet  ye  say.  Wherein 
have  we  despised  thy  name  ?  A  new  sentence 
should  begin  with  this  clause. 

The  answer  to  this  question  is  to  be  found  in 
■-\  the  first  clause  of  ver.  7  :  Ofifering  polluted  bread. 

This  we  regard,  with  Maurer  and  Ewald,  as  an 
answer  to  the  question  proposed  in  the  last  clause 
of  the  preceding  verse.  By  bread  is  meant  here 
not  the  shew  bread,  which  was  not  oftered  upon  the 
altar,  but  any  sacrifices,  as  the  mention  of  the 
blind  and  lame  shows.  Sacrifices  are  often  called 
in  the  law,  the  bread  or  food  of  God  ;  Lev.  xxi. 
6,  8,  17,  21,  22  ;  xxii.  25  ;  Num.  xxviii.  2  ;  Lev. 
iii.  11,  16.  The  bread  is  called  impure,  or  polluted, 
because  it  does  not  corresjjond  to  the  claims  of 
God  and  to  his  law,  which  forbade  the  offering  of 
a  sacrifice  with  any  blemish,  such  as  blindness,  or 
lameness,  or  any  evil-favoredness ;  Lev.  xxii.  20, 
25  ;  Deut.  xv.  21.  To  pollute  Jehovah  is  to  offer 
polluted  sacrifices.  In  proof  of  the  charge  against 
the  priests,  which  they  denied,  Jehovah  refers  to 
what  they  said  and  did.  They  represent  the  altar 
as  contemptible  by  their  practice  of  otiering  sacri- 
fices expressly  forbidden. 

The  words.  There  is  no  evil,  are  not  to  be  taken 
as  a  question,  this  would  weaken  their  force,  but 
are  used  in  the  sense  of  the  priests,  and  in  the 
mouth  of  the  prophet  are  words  of  angry  rebuke 
and  bitter  irony. 

Ver.  8.  The  prophet  now  uses  an  argumentum 
ad  hominem,  to  show  that  they  had  treated  Jehovah 
with  less  respect  than  they  would  have  treated  any 
human  governor.    Oflfer  it  now  to  thy  governor. 

The  word  translated,  governor,  is  found  in  Jer. 
li.  28;  1  Kings  x.  15;  Neh.  ii.  7  ;  v.  14,  and 
means  a  heathen  governor  of  a  province.  To  ac- 
cept a  person,  is  to  be  favorably  disposed  towards 
any  one,  to  espouse  liis  cause. 


Ver.  9.   And  now  I  pray  you,  beseech  Ood, 

etc.  The  prophet  proceeds  to  make  an  applica- 
tion of  the  illustration  in  ver.  8.  If  the  governor 
will  not  receive  worthless  gifts,  how  much  less  will 
Jehovah  ! 

The  challenge  to  the  priests  to  beseech  God  has 
been  regarded  by  Jerome,  J.  H.  Michaelis,  and 
Hitzig,  as  an  earnest  call  to  repentance,  and  prayer 
for  God's  mercy.  But  as  the  parenthesis  ( This  has 
been  by  your  hand!)  most  naturally  means.  Such 
sins  have  been  committed  by  you !  and  seems  to 
be  inserted  to  reiteiate  the  charge,  and  silence  any 
reply;  as  the  question.  Will  he  accept  your  persons? 
intimates  that  God  will  not  do  so,  which  is  never 
the  case  where  there  is  sincere  prayer  for  his  mer- 
cy, and  as  the  next  verse  expresses'a  wish  that  the 
doors  of  the  Temple  were  altogether  closed,  it  is 
better  to  regard  it  with  Calvin,  Manrer,  Ewald, 
Keil,  Kohler,  and  Henderson,  as  conditional,  and 
with  a  shade  of  irony.  Should  you  intercede  with 
God,  will  He  accept  any  1  The  Septuagint  puts 
it  in  the  first  person  :  "  Shall  I  accept  of  you  your 

persons  ?  "  The  word  C?^  is  understood  by  Keil 
and  Kohler  as  meaning,  on  your  account,  but  it  is 
better  to  regard  it,  with  the  LXX.  and  Maurer,  as 
partitive  and  emphatic  :  No  one  of  you.  The  prophet 
adds :  Thus  saith  Jehovah  Sabaoth,  that  we 
may  not  forget  that  what  he  says  was  inspired  of 
God. 

Ver.  10.  Who  is  there  among  you,  or  rather, 
O,  that  some  one  among  you  would  even  shut 
the  doors  of  the  temple  !  The  first  clause  is  to 
be  explained  in  accordance  with  a  well-known  He- 
brew idiom  as  a  wish,  2  Sam.  xv.  4;  xxiii.  15; 
Ps.  iv.  7  ;  Job  xix.  23.  Jehovah  is  so  provoked 
by  their  illegal  offerings,  and  the  spirit  which  act- 
uated them,   that  He  would  gladly  see  his  whole 

worship  discontinued.  C3,  though  placed  first,  be- 
longs to  the  whole  sentence,  and  is  emphatic.  By 
the  doors  are  meant  the  folding  doors,  which  led 
from  the  outer  court  to  the  court  of  the  priests, 
where  was  the  altar  of  burnt  offerings.  The  rea- 
son for  this  wish  is  given,  that  the  priests  may 
not  light  a  fire  uselessly,  to  no  purpose,  upon  Jeho- 
vah's altar.  The  for  nought,  in  the  Hrst  clause  in 
our  version,  is  unnecessary.  Jehuvah  character- 
izes their  sacrifices  as  vain,  because  they  did  not 
accomplish  their  end.  Jerome,  Grotius,  Hender 
son,  understand  by  it  in  vain,  gratis,  without  pay 
ment,  and  refer  it  to  the  avaricious  disposition  of 
the  priests ;  but  it  is  better  to  consider  it  to  mean, 

without  an  object.  An  offering  (nHi^),  by  this  is 
meant  not  the  unbloody  sacrifice  of  fine  wheat- 
flour,  mentioned  in  Lev.  ii.  1-15,  but  all  kinds  of 
sacrifice,  as  the  context  shows  where  only  animal 
victims  are  spoken  of,  and  from  its  use  in  thia 
sense  in   Gen.  iv.  4,  where  Abel's   sacrifice  of  a 

lamb  is  callec^  nn3S5,  1  Sam.  ii.  15 ;  Isaiah  L  13 
Zeph.  iii.  10. 


I2 


MALACHl. 


Ver.  1 1 .  For  from  the  rising  of  the  sun,  etc. 
In  contrast  witli  the  siicritice  which  Jeliovali  re- 
jects, he  dech\res,  that  the  hour  is  coininj;  when 
the  true  worshippers,  not  in  Jerusalem  only  but  in 
tvery  jjlace,  shall  otTer  a  pure,  a  sincere  otterini^  in 
spirit  and  truth,  and  a  living  sacrilice  of  their  souls 
and  bodies  to  the  name  of  Jehovah,  which  has 
been  despised.  What  an  insight  into  the  most 
'    distant   future!      How    much    is   involved  in   this 

Sirophecy  1  The  kingdom  of  God  taken  from  the 
tews  and  given  to  the  Gentiles,  the  abrogation  of 
the  old  dispensation  wherein  the  worship  of  the 
P'ailier  was  contined  to  one  place  (Dent.  xii.  13), 
the  coming  of  the  hour  "  when  the  true  worship- 
pers shall  worshij)  the  Father  in  spirit  and  truth  :  " 
the  universal  spread  of  Christianity.  This  proph- 
ecy is  regarded  by  some  of  the  Jewish  Conmien tu- 
tors, and  by  the  Septuagiiit,  and  by  Hitzig,  Ewald, 
Maurer,  Umbreit,  and  Kohler  as  a  declaration  of 
what  was  already  the  fact  among  the  heathen  who 
worshipped  ignorantly  the  unknown  Jehovah,  un- 
der different  names.  If  so,  it  would  amount  to 
the  lines  in  Pope's  universal  Prayer  :  — 

"  Father  of  all  1   in  every  age, 
In  every  clime  adored, 
By  saint,  by  savage,  and  by  sage, 
JehoTah,  Jove,  or  Lord  !  " 

In  opposing  this  view  we  first  deny  the  fact.  So 
far  from  the  name  of  Jehovah  being  great  among 
the  heathen,  and  a  pure  worship  offered  Him,  they 
were  sunk  into  the  most  abominable  and  inex- 
cusable idolatry,  they  worshipped  and  served  the 
creature  rather  than  the  Creator,  who  is  God  over 
all,  blessed  forever  !  It  would  be  in  conflict  with 
other  prophecies,  Isaiah  xi.  10  ;  Zeph.  ii.  11  .  Zech. 
ix.  10 ;  Is.  Ixvi.  20,  and  many  others,  which  speak 
•"  -of  such  a  worship  as  in  t\\t  future. 

Pocook,  speaking  of  this  Jewish  interpretation, 
adopted  by  Ewald  and  others,  well  says,  "  What 
is  It  less  than  even  an  excuse,  or  apology  tor,  if  not 
a  avnmendadon  of  idolaters,  and  idolatry,  as  from 
the  mouth  of  God  himself,  who  all  along  showed 
them  and  their  ways  to  be  all  most  abominable  to 
f   him." 

By  incense  is  here  meant  prayer,  of  which  it  is 
a  frequent  symbol.  This  is  admitted  by  the  Ro- 
man Catholic  commentator,  Reinke,  who  ob- 
serves, "  that  Malachi  could  not  refer  to  literal  in-j 
cense  is  evident  from  the  fact  that  the  ottering  of 
incense  could  only  take  place  in  the  temple."  If 
this  is  true  of  incense,  why  is  it  not  true  of  the 
offering  in  the  same  sentence,  associated  with  it 
here  and  in  the  law  (Lev.  ii.  15)?  Yet  Reinke 
understands  it  with  the  Church  of  Rome,  as  refer- 
ring to  the  "  bloodless  sacrifice  of  the  New  Testa- 
ment, the  holy  sacrifice  of  the  Mass."  It  is  well 
known  that  the  Church  of  Rome  makes  use  of 
this  text  as  its  principal  proof-text  for  the  doctrine 
of  the  Mass.  "  That  in  the  Mass  is  offered  to  God 
a  true,  proper,  and  propitiatory  sacrifice  for  the 
living  and  the  dead."  In  the  Canons  of  the  Coun- 
cil of  Trent,  Scss.  22,  we  read,  "  that  the  Mass  is 
that  pure  sacrifice  which  the  Lord  predicted  by 
Malachi  should  be  offered  to  his  name  in  every 
place." 

Whately  remarks  of  such  a  use  of  Scripture  to 
support  certain  practices,  that  "the  misinterpreta- 
tion has  sprung  from  the  doctrine."  The  doctrine 
has  arisen  first,  and  then  the  texts  of  Holy  Writ 
»re  £issigned  to  support  it. 

"  In  religion, 
What  error,  but  gome  sober  brow 
Will  bless  it  and  approve  it  with  a  text?  " 


The  Church  of  Rome  appeals  here  as  elsewhere 
to  the  almost  unanimous  consent  of  the  lathers. 
We  may  spend  a  little  time  in  showing  the  unfair- 
ness of  such  an  appeal,  by  quoting  the  principal 
passages  in  which  they  refer  to  this  verse.  They 
were  governed  by  no  fixed  rules  in  their  interpre- 
tation of  Scripture,  and  were  in  the  habit  of  ac- 
commodating every  text  which  came  to  hand,  to 
serve  their  purpose.  An  important  distinction 
should  be  made  between  their  interpretation  and 
application  of  texts.  They  were  given  to  a  florid 
and  ornate  style,  and  their  rhetoric  has  often  been 
converted  into  logic.  Kohler  has  very  briefly 
brought  together  the  principal  passages  from  the 
Fathers,  a  synopsis  of  which  we  here  give.  Justin 
Martyr  speaks  of  "  the  heathen  offering  to  God, 
accorditig  to  Malachi  i.  11,  the  bread  and  cup  of 
thanksgiving,"  but  he  proceeds  to  explain  it,  as 
used  by  metonymy  for  the  true  sacrifice  of  prayer 
and  ])raise. 

Irenaeus  also  refers  one  passage  to  the  elements 
of  the  Lord's  Supper,  but  only  in  the  sense,  "  that 
Christians  symbolically  offer  bread  and  wine  to 
God  in  proof  of  their  thankfulness,  and  after  the 
offering  pray  the  Holy  Ghost  that  he  would  ren- 
der them  the  body  and  blood  of  Christ,  so  that 
those  who  received  them  might  obtain  forgiveness 
of  their  sins  and  eternal  life."  Irenaeus  regards 
faith,  obedience,  praise,  righteousness,  and  prayer 
as  the  true  sacrifices. 

Origen,  on  Prayer,  proves  from  our  passage, 
"  that  every  place  is  adapted  to  prayer." 

The  Apostolic  Constitutions  require  "  the  faith- 
ful to  assemble  for  prayer  on  the  Lord's  day,  in 
oi'der  that,  according  to  Malachi,  their  sacrifice 
may  be  acceptable  to  God." 

Kusebius  Pamphilus  sees  in  Malachi  i.  11  a 
prophecy  of  the  abrogation  of  the  Jewish  ritual, 
"  while  Christians  would  offer  to  God  the  sacri- 
fices of  love,  prayer,  and  remembrance  of  the  great 
sacrifice,  ?)  fx.vi)fxrj  rov  /xeyaKov  dv/xaTOS. 

Jerome,  in  his  Commentary,  explains  this  pas- 
sage as,  "  spirituales  victimce  sanctorum  orationes 
Domino  offerendce." 

Augustine  understands  it  of  "  works  of  mercy 
either  to  ourselves  or  to  others."  "  We  ourselves 
are  tlic  best  and  noblest  sacrifice."  He  speaks  of 
the  Lord's  Supper  as  shadowing  forth  the  self- 
sacrifice  of  the  Church  to  its  Lord. 

Chrysostora  quotes  this  passage  in  proof,  that 
the  worship  of  God  in  spirit  and  truth  should 
take  the  place  of  the  Jewish  service.  He  calls  the 
Lord's  Supper  only  so  far  a  sacrifice,  as  by  the  in- 
vocation of  the  Holy  Ghost,  the  body  and  blood 
of  the  Lord  are  present  for  the  enjoyment  of  the 
believers. 

Cyril  Alex.,  understands  by  this  text  in  Malachi 
"  the  sacrifices  of  faith,  hope,  love,  and  good  works 
which  the  heathen  in  the  future  shall  ofier." 

We  thus  see  with  what  justice  the  Church  of 
Rome  appeals  to  the  Fathers,  and  from  tiiis  case 
we  may  judge  of  others,  ab  uno  disce  omnes.  There 
is  not  the  slightest  warrant  to  suppose  any  allu 
sion  to  the  Lord's  Supper  in  this  verse ;  nothing 
is  more  common  than  to  use  sacrificial  terms  bor- 
rowed from  the  Old  Testament  ritual,  in  a  spirit- 
ual sense,  of  the  sacrifices  of  praise  and  good 
works,  of  the  royal  priesthood  to  offer  up  sjiiritua' 
sacrifices  acceptable  to  God  by  Jesus  Christ,  and 
of  the  bodies  of  believers  as  living  sacrifices. 

Ver.  12.  But  ye  profane  it.  The  prophet  r& 
news  the  charge  of  ver.  7  against  the  priest-J,  thaj 
they  ])rofane  the  name  of  the  Lord  by  offering  do 
fective  animals. 


CHAPTEUS  1.   6-11.   10. 


13 


And  the  frviit  thereof,  even  its  food.  Its  pro- 
vision, that  is,  of  the  table,  or  altar,  even  its  food. 

Ver.  13.  Ye  say  also,  Behold  what  weari- 
ness! Instead  of  regarding-  their  service  at  the 
altar  as  an  honorable  privilege,  they  look  upon  it 
as  an  oppressive  drudgery.  Ye  snufiF  at  it,  you 
show  without  any  concealment  and  publicly  your 
contempt. 

Ye  bring  that  which  was  torn,  or  rather 
plundered.  Two  bringings  are  mentioned,  the 
first  preparatory  to  the  second,  when  the  victim 
was  pre:>»-  ed,  ready  for  sacrifice.  The  verse 
ilose*.  i»iiL.  an  appeal  to  the  priests,  as  in  ver.  8,  as 
:o  Jehovah's  acceptance  of  such  sacrifices. 

Ver,  14.  And  cursed  be  the  deceiver.  The 
1  here  should  be  translated.  And  cursed,  cursed 
be  he,  who,  when  the  law  requires  a  male,  brings 
one  of  less  value.  The  law  permitted  and  enjoined 
sacrifices  of  female  animals  in  some  cases  (Lev.  iii. 
1;  iv.  32;  v.  6). 

We  had  better  understand  corrupt  or  blemished, 
(as  in  Lev.  xxii.  25),  with  Keil  and  Kijhler,  as 
masculine,  and  not  as  feminine,  as  Ewald,  Maurer, 
Hitzig,  and  regard  the  curse  as  pronounced  npon 
any  one  who  redeemed  his  vow  with  an  inferior 
animal. 

The  argument  by  which  this  rebuke  is  enforced 
is,  that  Jehovah  is  a  great  king,  "  Rex  tremtndce 
majestatis,"  and  must  therefore  be  served  with 
reverence  and  godly  fear. 

Chap.  ii.  1 .  And  now,  O  ye  priests,  this  com- 
mandment is  for  you.  The  rebuke  to  the  priests 
is  now  followed  by  a  threatening  of  the  punish- 
ment which  would  ensue,  if  they  did  not  repent. 

The  word  ^^2^,  commandment,  is  to  be  under- 
stood as  in  Xalium  i.  14  in  the  sense  of  derrfip, 
tentence. 

Ver.  2.  I  will  curse  your  blessings.  This  iia.- 
boen  understood  by  l)e  Dieu,  liosenmuUer,  liitzig, 
in  the  sense  of  revenues.  Keil  and  Kohler  mter- 
pret  it  of  the  blessings  pronounced  upon  the 
people  by  the  priests;  these  God  will  turn  into 
lurses  ;  but  it  is  not  necessary  to  depart  from  the 
;ommon  and  general  sense  of  the  word.  Yea,  I 
have  cursed  them.  This  is  not  a  simple  em- 
phatic repetition  of  the  proceeding  "  I  will  curse, 
as  the  LXX.  (Kardpaaofxai),  the  Targum,  Vul- 
gate,   Hitzig,    Umbreit,    Reinke,   and    Henderson 

maintain,  but  as  the  C21.  requires,  is  to  be  under- 
stood of  what  has  already  taken  effect,  the  curse 
has  begun.  So  Ewald,  Keil,  Kohler.  The  sin- 
gular suffix  attached  to  blessings  is  distributive, 
referring  to  every  blessing. 

Ver.  3.  Behold  I  will  rebuke  your  seed.  For 
you  the  seed,  is  emphatic.     In  chap.  iii.  1 1  we  find 

the  same  word  "'l?^  used  in  the  promised  bless- 
ing. /  will  rebuke  the  devourer,  or  the  locust.  In 
Joel  i.  13  the  priests  are  called  upon  to  lament  for 
the  meat-offering  withholden,  because  the  seed  is 
rotten.  In  Haggai  ii.  17  we  find,  "I  smote  you 
with  blasting  and  mildew."  The  passage  in  Joel 
shows,  that  though  the  priests  did  not  till  the 
ground,  yet  they  were  dependent  for  their  tithes 
upon  the  harvest,  so  if  the  seed  was  cursed  they 
would   themselves  suffer.     This  renders  it  unne- 

lessary  to  change  the  ]iunctuation  of  'S'^^.  (seed) 

»  ^'IT  (arm),  with  the  LXX.,  Vulgate,  Ewald, 
Reinke,  Keil,  Kohler,  Pressel.  Kohler  has  a  pe- 
culiar view,  that  it  itfei's  to  the  ;irin  which  the 
priests  raised    to  ble?:;  tin;  ixoiile,   b\  t    the   hand 


would  more  naturally  have  been  mentioned.  It  is 
understood  by  other  Commentators  to  refer  to  the 
pcr([uislte  of  the  priests  —  the  shoulder,  but  they 
were  entitled  not  only  to  the  shoulder  but  to  other 
parts  (Deut.  xviii.  3;  Lev.  vii.  32). 

Still  further  to  show  how  displeasing  the  con- 
duct of  the  priests  was  in  his  e3es,  Jehovah  threat- 
ens that  the  dung  of  the  victims  which  was  to  be 
burnctl  without  the  camp  (K.\.  xxix.  14;  Lev 
xvi.  -27),  shoud  be  sjiread  on  their  faces. 

And  ye  shall  be  carried  to  it.  This  clausa 
has  been  differently  understood,  some  making  the 
dung  the  nominative,  as  the  Vulgate,  Luther,  Cal- 
vin, lOwald,  Reinke,  Bunsen  ;  others,  tAeAofaA.  It 
is  better  to  regard  the  subject  as  indefinite,  they, 
some  one —  the  people,  as  in  John  xv.  6.  "  Thei/ 
shall  gather  them,  and  cast  them  into  the  fire,"  or, 
more  according  to  our  idiom,  it  is  to  be  translated 
j/e  shall  be  taken  away  with,  or  to  it,  where  it  is 
deposited,  ye  shall  be  treated  as  dung,  as  God 
said  to  Jeroboam  (1  Kings  xiv.  10).  The  LXX. 
have,  "  I  will  take  you  to  the  same." 

Ver.  4.  Ye  shall  know  that  1  have  sent  this 
sentence,  etc.  The  word  commandment  is  to  be 
understood  as  in  the  first  verse,  as  sentence,  decree 
of  punishment. 

That  my  covenant  may  continue  with  Levi. 
Difi'erent  interpretations  have  been  put  upon  this 
sentence.  Ewald,  Reinke,  Henderson,  Rosenmiil- 
ler  translate  it,  Because  my  covenant  was  with  Levi. 
Hitzig,  Maurer,  De  Wette,  Noyes,  That  my  cove- 
nant might  remain  with  Levi. 

The  view  more  generally  adopted  and  advocated 
by  Luther,  Calvin,  Umbreit,  Keil,  Kohler,  Pressel, 
is,  that  my  covenant  is  the  predicate,  and  that  the 
decree  of  punishment  is  to  be  henceforth  God's 
covenant,  that  according  to  which  he  should  deal 
with  Levi,  or  the  priests  ;  tlie  decree  of  punish- 
ment shall  take  the  place  of  the  earlier  covenant 
with  the  priests.  The  objections  to  this  interpre- 
tation are,  that  it  is  not  plain  and  simple ;  that  a 
difierent  form  of  expression  would  have  been  made 
use  of  had  this  been  the  meaning,  such  as  —  My 
decree  shall  be  instead  of  my  Covenant ;  that  cov- 
enant is  immediately  after  used  in  its  common 
sense  ;  and  that  Levi,  or  the  priesthood,  is  regarded 
as  one  throughout. 

We  may  understand  it  as  an  elliptical  construc- 
tion. This  decree  is  sent  to  you,  that  by  your  lay- 
ing it  to  heart  my  covenant  may  be,  may  continue 
to  be  with  Levi,  as  it  was  in  the  beginning,  which 
he  goes  on  to  speak  of;  that  you  may  not  make 
null  and  void  the  covenant  made  in  the  beginning 
with  Levi,  and  which  Jehovah  would  have  con- 
tinued in  his  posterity. 

Ver.  5.  My  covenant  with  him  was  (of)  Ufe 
and  peace,  etc.  Jehovah  now  speaks  of  the  na- 
ture of  the  covenant  made  with  Levi,  or  the  priest- 
hood, in  order  to  contrast  the  character  of  the 
priests  with  that  of  their  pious  predecessors. 

My  covenant  .with  him  was  life  and  peace. 
These  nouns  are  not  in  the  genitive,  as  the  Septu- 
agint,  Vulgate,  and  the  English  Version  make 
them,  but  are  the  nominative  of  the  predicate.  It 
is  not  tiecessary  to  confine  this  description  to 
Phinehas,  as  Henderson  does,  though  in  Num. 
XXV.  12  they  are  specially  addressed  to  him. 

And  I  gave  them  to  him  for  fear.  The  de- 
sign of  the  Covenant  was  to  inspire  him  with  holy 
fear  and  reverence.  For  fear,  put  by  metonymj' 
for  the  effect  of  fear  ;  and  the  original  priesthood 
corresponded  to  this  divine  intention ;  And  he 
reverenced  my  name. 

Ver.  6.    The  law  of  truth  was  in  his  mouth* 


14 


MAIiACHI. 


etc.  His  exposition  of  the  law  was  according:  to 
truth,  its  true  nature,  and  there  was  found  in  him 
no  perverseness,  no  self-seekin<;',  nor  ])artiality. 
Thus  he  walked  in  most  intimate  and  endearing 
communion  with  Jehovah,  as  did  Noah  and  Enoch, 
in  integrity  of  heart  and  life,  and  l)y  his  faithful 
instructions  and  warnings  turned  many  to  righte- 
ousness. Thus  he  fulfilled  the  design  of  the  priest- 
hood, which  was  to  expound  and  apply  to  every 
case  the  idll  of  God,  as  expressed  in  his  law,  and 
to  be  always  ready  to  instruct  the  people.  It  was 
for  this  end  the  priesthood  was  appointed  of  God. 
Ver.  7.  The  priest  is  an  angel,  or  messenger  of 
Jehovah  to  negotiate  the  grand  concerns  of  judg- 
ment and  of  mercy.  This  is  the  only  passage, 
with  the  exception  of  Haggai  i.  ^,  jvhere  it  is  ap- 
plied to  the  prophet,  where  we  meet  with  such  an 
application.  Elsewhere  it  is  applied  to  the  Angel 
of  the  Lord,  the  Angel  of  the  Presence,  the  Angel 
of  the  Covenant,  in  whom  God  revealed  Himself, 
and  through  whom  He  transacted  with  man  from 
the  beginning. 

Ver.  8.  But  ye  have  departed  from  the  way. 
Jehovah  now  reminds  the  priests  how  very  differ- 
ent they  were  from  their  pious  fathers.  They  had 
respect  of  persons;  they  had  taught  for  hire 
(Micah  iii.  11).  By  their  example  and  false  ex- 
positions of  the  law  they  had  misled  many,  and 
E lunged  them  into  sin,  guilt,  and  perdition.  They 
ad  made  the  law  itself,  instead  of  being  a  light 
and  lamp  to  the  people,  a  stumbling-block.  As  a 
just  retribution  for  their  sin,  Jehovah  will  abandon 
them  to  the  contempt  of  all  Israel.  According,  in 
our  version,  should  be  rather,  because. 


DOCTRINAL  AND  PRACTICAli. 

Matthew  Henry  :  "  Nothing  profanes  the 
name  of  God  more  than  the  misconduct  of  those 
whose  business  it  is  to  do  honor  to  it." 

Chap.  ii.  7  (1).  What  is  the  duty  of  ministers  1 
The  priests'  lips  should  keep  knowledge,  not  keep 
it  frorn  his  people,  but  keep  it  foi-  them.  Minis- 
ters must  be  men  of  knowledge,  for  how  are  they 
able  to  teach  others  the  things  of  God  who  are 
themselves  unacquainted  with  these  things,  or  un- 
ready in  them  ?  They  must  keep  knowledge,  must 
furnish  themselves  with  it,  and  retain  what  they 
have  got,  that  they  may  be  like  the  good  house- 
holder, who  brings  out  of  his  treasury  things  new  and 
old.  Not  only  their  heads,  but  their  lips  must 
keep  knowledge:  they  must  not  only  have  it  but 
they  must  have  it  ready,  must  have  it  at  hand, 
must  have  it,  as  we  say,  at  their  tongues'  end,  to 
be  communicated  to  others,  as  there  is  occasion. 

(2.)  What  is  the  duty  of  the  people?  They 
thould  seek  the  law  at  his  mouth ;  they  should  con- 
sult the  priests,  and  not  only  hear  the  message,  but 
ask  questions  upon  it,  that  they  may  the  better  un- 
derstand it.  We  must  not  only  consult  the  writ- 
ten Word,  but  must  have  recourse  to  God's  mes- 
sengers' and  desire  instruction  and  advice  from 
them  in  the  affairs  of  our  souls,  as  we  do  from 
physicians  and  lawyers  concerning  our  bodies  and 
estates. 

Ver.  8.  The  feeling  of  proper  reverence  for  God 
and  the  services  of  his  altar  would  indeed  alone 
have  dictated  that  what  was  offered  to  him  should 
be  the  best  and  most  perfect  of  its  kind.  Even 
the  heathen  were  sensible  of  this  propriety,  and 
were  careful  that  their  victims  were  wiihout  bieui- 
ph  or  imperfection.  Thus,  Homer  in  the  Iliad, 
1. 66,  makes  Achilles  propose  to  consult  some  priest, 


prophet,  or  interpreter  of  dreams  to  know  whethe: 
the  angry  Apollo  might  not  be,  "  Soothed  witb 
steam  of  lambs  or  goats  unblemished."  Cowper' 
Transl. ) 

Maimonides  says :  "  There  were  no  less  than 
fifty  blemishes,  enumerated     by  him,  which   ren- 
dered an  animal  unfit  to  be  offered  on  the  Lord 
altar.'' 

Wordsworth  :  On  ver.  7.  The  priest's  lipt 
should  keep  knoivledge,  a  memorable  statement. 
The  offering  of  sacrifices  was  indeed  an  essential 
part  of  the  priestlj-  office ;  but  Malachi  declares 
that  all  sacerdotal  sacrifices  are  of  no  avail  with- 
out religious  knowledge,  sound  learning,  and 
wholesome  teaching.  The  first  duty  of  the  Levit- 
ical  Priests,  —  and  how  much  more  of  the  Chris- 
tian ! —  was  to  keep,  or  preserve  knowledge;  the 
knowledge  of  God  as  revealed  in  his  holy  Word, 
and  so  to  discharge  their  sacred  office,  that,  ac- 
cording to  the  Word  of  God,  the  people  should 
resort  to  them  for  instruction  in  holy  things,  and 
not  resort  in  vain,  and  unless  this  was  done  by 
them  all  their  offerings  and  sacrifices  were  nuga- 
tory, and  God  would  "  spread  dung  on  their  faces," 
in  token  of  his  displeasure.  Here  is  a  solemn 
warning  to  the  Christian  clergy.  If  such  was  the 
duty  of  the  Levitical  priesthood,  and  such  the  pen- 
alty of  not  performing  it  aright,  how  much  more 
imperative  is  the  obligation  of  the  Christian  Priest 
to  "  keep  knowledge,"  and  to  instruct  the  people 
in  sound  doctrine ;  or,  as  St.  Paul  expresses  it, 
"  to  give  attendance  to  reading,  to  exhortation,  to 
doctrine,  to  meditate  on  these  things,  and  give 
himself  wholly  to  them,"  to  speak  the  things  which 
become  sound  doctrine,  to  hold  fast  the  faithfiil 
word,  so  that  he  may  be  able  by  sound  doctrine  to 
convince  the  gainsayers.  And  how  much  surer 
will  be  his  punishment  if  he  fails  to  discharge  it ! 
It  is  to  be  feared  that  this  warning  is  greatly 
needed  at  the  present  day.  The  clergy  of  the 
Eastern  Church,  especially  in  Asia  and  Greece, 
have  been  degraded  to  a  low  condition  with  regard 
to  religious  and  secular  knowledge.  Celebrated 
Roman  Catholic  writers  deplore  the  ignorance  of 
a  great  part  of  their  clergy,  consisting  of  mere  il- 
literate Mass-Priests.  See  Dr.  Dollinger's  The 
Church  and  the  Churches. 

In  Protestant  Germany  the  theological  chairs 
of  the  universities  are  filled  by  those  who  have  no 
pastoral  experience  in  the  cure  of  souls,  and  have 
none  of  that  wisdom  which  is  found  at  the  side 
of  sick  beds  and  death-beds,  and  in  church-yards 
at  the  grave,  and  have  no  mission  from  Christ, 
and  no  unction  from  the  Holy  Ghost ;  and  many 
among  them  treat  the  Holy  Scriptures  as  if  they 
were  a  mere  common  book.  Hence  the  theolog- 
ical teaching  of  the  Schools  has  been  divorced  from 
the  Christian  Priesthood." 

W.  Pressel  :  The  requisition  of  the  Old  Cove- 
nant that  the  sacrifices  offered  should  be  unblem- 
ished and  perfect,  and  that  by  a  defective  sacrifice 
the  altar  of  God  and  the  offerer  himself  were  pol- 
luted, grew  out  of  the  truth  which  Malachi  here 
in  most  convincing  language  represents  to  the 
priests,  that  defective  offerings  betray  a  defective 
disposition,  a  want  of  reverence  for  the  Holy 
God.  In  the  New  Covenant,  where  all  sacrificial 
worship  has  ended,  this  rebuke  applies  to  all  di- 
vided service  of  God,  to  all  half  Christianity,  and 
to  all  those  Christians,  who,  not  influenced  by 
reverence  of  the  Holy  One,  and  by  earnestness  in 
sanctification,  think'  to  dis<'harge  their  Christian 
duty  by  certain  ceremonies  or  good  works.  Where 
this  is  the  case  with  ministers  of  the  Gospel  then 


CHAPTER  II.  10-16. 


15 


k,  as  in  the  case  of  the  Priests,  double  guilt,  part- 
ly because  they  preach  what  they  themselves  do 
not  practice,  and  partly,  because  they  thereby 
cause  a  special  scandal.  The  motives  of  the  maj- 
esty of  God,  the  example  of  the  first  priests,  and 
the  dignity  of  their  calling  to  be  a  messenger  of 
Jehovah,  apply  with  no  less  force  to  those  under 
the  New  Covenant.  These  arguments  will  have 
little  effect,  where  personal  thankfulness  to  God 
for  his  great  love  to  us  in  Christ,  and  concern  for 
cur  salvation  through  Him  are  wanting,  but  where 
they  animate  ministers  of  the  Gospel,  they  must 
urge  them  to  fulfill  more  truly  and  actively  their 
high  calling. 

HOMlLETICAIi  REMARKS  BY  FRESSEL. 

The  close  connection  of  the  first  and  fourth 
commandments.  He  only,  who  has  a  lively  sense 
of  the  presence  of  his  God  and  Father,  will  honor 


and  obey  the  fourth  commandment,  and  he  only, 
who  knows  what  an  earthly  Lord  and  Father  must 
require  of  his  own,  will  feel  himself  impelled  to 
obey  the  first  commandment.  In  what  way  can 
we  now  pollute  the  table  of  the  Lord  ?  (1.)  In  the 
Sacrament,  when  we  ourselves  partake  of  it  un- 
worthily, or  do  not  enough  arouse  the  consciences 
of  others.  (2.)  In  life,  when  we  allow  in  ourselves 
or  in  others  committed  to  us,  a  half-way  devoted- 
ncss  to  the  Lord. 

How  far  does  the  seventh  verse  apply  to  a  min- 
ister of  the  Gospel"?  He  is  still  a  Priest,  so  far  as 
he  should  point  to  the  sacrifice  on  Golgotha,  and 
should  bear  his  Church  upon  his  interceding  heart, 
and  should  bless  them  in  the  name  of  Jesus  Christ. 
He  is  still  a  messenger  of  God  to  those  commit- 
ted to  him,  and  should  preserve  his  Word  in  the 
Church,  should  teach  young  and  old  out  of  it,  and 
should  testify  fearlessly  and  faithfully  what  the 
Lord  bids  him  testify. 


SECTION  m. 

Against  unlawful  Divorce,  and  Marriages  with  Heathen   Wiveg, 

Chapter  U.  10-16. 

10  Have  we  uot  all  one  father  ?  hath  not  one  God  created  us  ?  why  do  we  deal 
treacherously  every  man  against  his  brother,  by  profaning   the  covenant  of  our 

11  fathers?  Judah  hath  dealt  treacherously,  and  an  abomination  is  committed  in  Is- 
rael and  in  Jerusalem  ;  for  Judah  hath  profaned  the  [holy  people]  of  the  Lord, 

12  which  he  loves,  and  hath  married  the  daughter  of  a  strange  god.  The  Lord  will 
cut  off  the  man  that  doeth  this,  the  master  and  the  scholar  [the  waker  and  the  an- 
swerer"],  out  of  the  tabernacles  of  Jacob,  and  him  that  offereth  an  offering  unto  the 

13  Lord  of  Hosts.  And  this  have  ye  done  agaiti.  [as  a  second  thing'],  covering  the  altar 
of  the  Lord  with  tears,  with  weeping,  and  with  crying  out,  insomuch  that  he  regard- 

14  eth  not  the  offering  any  more,  or  receiveth  it  with  good  will  at  your  hand.  Yet  ye 
say,  Wherefore  [doth  he  not  accept']  ?  Because  the  Lord  hath  been  witness  between 
thee  and  the  wife  of  thy  youth,  against  whom  thou  hast  dealt  treacherously ;  yet  it 

15  she  thy  companion,  and  the  wife  of  thy  covenant.  And  did  not  he  make  one 
[Jlesh]  ?  Yet  had  he  the  residue  of  the  spirit.  And  wherefore  one  ?  That  he 
might  seek  a  godly  seed.     Therefore  take  heed  to  your  spirit,  and  let  none  deal 

16  treacherously  against  the  wife  of  his  youth.  For  the  Lord,  the  God  of  Israel, 
saith  that  he  hateth  [I  hate  divorce]  putting  away  ;  for  one  covereth  violence  with 
his  garment  [covers  his  garment  with  cruelty],  saith  the  Lord  of  Hosts :  therefore 
take  heed  to  your  spirit,  that  ye  deal  not  treacherously. 


TEXTUAL  AND  GRAMMATICAL. 
1  V«.  10.  —  ^55  •*  d**l  treacherouBly,  to  be  unfeithful,  is  used  in  tots.  11, 14, 16, 16. 

t  Ver.  11  —  r\Z  is  used  here,  as  often,  in  the  sense  of  worshipper,  or  seryant.  W^p  means  here,  holy  seed,  oal 
koUoess,  as  Henry,  Scott. 

8  Ver.  12  —  nnpl  jussive  form.  The  master  and  the  scholar.  So  Vulgate.  A  proverb  like :  none  shut  up  m 
eft  (Dent,  xxxii.  36) ;  the  deceiver  and  the  deceived  (Job  xii.  16 ;  Job  xviii.  19) ;  son  nor  nephew,  to  express  totality  b| 
ipposites.     Out  of  the  tents,  is  to  be  connected  with  "  cut  off." 

*  Ver.  16.  —  The  peifect  with  rav  con.  must  here  be  tracslated  as  impeiatlTe,  as  in  1  Kings  11.  6. 


16 


MALACHl. 


KXEQETICAL  AND  CRITICAL. 

We  have  here  a  new  subject  without  any  con- 
nection with  wliat  precedes.  Tlie  Prophet,  in  the 
name  of  Jehovah,  rebukes  their  marriages  with 
foreigners,  and  their  divorce  of  their  lawful  wives. 
As  his  manner  is.  he  first  lays  down  an  indisputa- 
ble axiom  a?  the  basis  of  his  reproofs. 

Ver.  10.  Have  we  not  all  one  Father?  Jer- 
ome, Calvin,  and  others  understand  by  one  father 
here,  Abraham :  Pocock,  Scott,  and  Henry,  Ja- 
cob. The  obvious  ol>jection  to  this  view  is  that 
Abraham  was  the  father  not  of  the  Jews  only,  but 
of  the  Ishmaelites  and  Edomites.  The  best  recent 
Commentators  understand  by  it  Jehovah.  This 
makes  it  parallel  with  chap.  i.  6,  where  Jehovah 
styles  himself  the  Father  of  Israel. 

Divorce  is  a  violation  of  the  relation  sustained 
to  Jehovah,  as  a  common  father,  and  it  is  dealing 
treacherously  with  our  fellow  creature,  one  against 
another  (literally,  a  man  against  his  brother)  ;  it 
is  further  a  profanation  of  the  covenant  which 
Jehovah  made  with  his  chosen  people,  out  of  which 
there  grew  specific  duties  and  obligations  not  to 
marry  idolatresses,  or  the  daughters  of  a  strange 
God.  The  Prophet  classes  himself  with  the  of- 
•fenders,  as  it  was  a  national  sin.  The  Septuagint 
has  changed  the  suffixes  here,  "  Has  not  one  God 
created  tou  "?     Why  iiave  ye  forsaken,"  etc. 

The  law  of  Moses  prohibited  all  marriages  with 
the  heathen,  lest  the  Israelites  should  be  led  into 
idolatry  (Ex.  xxxiv.  11  ;  Deut.  vii.  1-4). 

Ver.  11.  Judah  hath  dealt  treacherously. 
He  now  proceeds  to  specify  their  sins.  Judah,  Is- 
rael, and  Jerusalem  are  here  only  different  desig- 
nations of  the  same  persons.  Jerusalem  is  prob- 
ably mentioned,  to  show  that  the  sin  was  aggra- 
vated by  being  committed  in  the  holy  city. 

The  Prophet  stigmatizes  their  unlawful  divorce 
as  an  abomination,  and  as  such  to  be  classed  with 
idolatry,  witchcraft,  and  adultery.  In  the  last 
elause  he  characterizes  their  intermarriages  with 
the  daughters  of  a  strange  god  (or  worshippers, 
by  a  well-known  Hebrew  idiom),  as  a  profanation 
of  the  holy  seed  (Ezra  ix.  2),  for  Israel  was  holi- 
ness to  the  Lord  (Jer.  ii.  3). 

Ver.  12.  Jehovah  will  cut  off,  etc.  The 
Prophet  denounces  the  judgment  of  Jehovah  upon 
every  one  out  of  the  tents  of  Jacob,  who  commits 
this  sin.  We  must  connect  "  out  of  the  tents  of 
Jacob  "  with  cut  off." 

The  apocopated  form  of  the  future  expresses  a 
wish  that  such  may  be  the  case.  To  express  the 
universality  of  this  judgment  that  no  one  should 
escape,  not  even  in  their  posterity,  we  have  a  pro- 
verbial phrase,  which  has  been  variously  inter- 
preted. Our  version  has  translated  it,  the  master 
and  the  scholar,  as  the  Vulgate,  magistrum  et  di- 
scipulum.  This  too  is  the  Rabbinical  explanation 
followed  by  Luther,  Pocock,  Henry,  Scott.  Geseu- 
ius,  Rosenmiiller,  Maurer,  Reinke,  Keil,  Noyes, 
Henderson,  I)e  Wctte,  J.  D.  Michaelis,  translate 
it,  the  watcher  and  the  answerer.  Calvin  under- 
stands it  of  the  master  and  servant :  "  Every  one 
who  was  in  power,  and  could  command  others," 
and  by  the  answerer,  "  the  servant,  who  received 
and  obeyed  orders."  The  Targura,  Syriac,  Ewald, 
ton  and  grandson.  Fiirst,  Munster,  Hitzig,  Die- 
trich, the  caller  and  the  answerer. 

Ver.  13.  And  this  ye  do  as  a  second  thing. 
Henderson  understands  this  of  time,  that  the  peo- 
ple had  relapsed  into  their  old  sins  in  the  time  of 
Ezra,  but  it  is  better  to  understand  it  of  a  second 


sill,  in  addition  to  marrying  heathen  wives,  of  di 
voreing  their  Jewish  wives.  The  Septuagint  readi 
it,  /  hated,  and  mistook  the  word. 

The  greatness  of  their  sin  is  enlarged  upon 
Their  divorced  wives  repair  to  the  altar  of  Jeho- 
vah, there  to  pour  out  their  hearts  before  Him 
and  to  complain  of  their  cruel  treatment,  and  tc 
seek  his  help.  The  last  clause  of  ver.  13  show* 
that  Jehovah  will  not  accept  the  sacrifice,  nor  blest^ 
the  worshipper 

Ver.  14.  Yet  ye  say,  wherefore?  That  is, 
wherefore  doth  He  not  accept  ? 

The  people  addressed  reftising  to  be  ashamed, 
and  to  confess  their  guilt,  shamelessly  ask  the  rea- 
son of  their  rejection.  The  Prophet  now  addresses 
each  one  personally.  Jehovah  has  been  a  wit- 
ness. Kohler  understands  this,  as  in  Malachi  iii. 
5,  of  an  avenging  witness,  but  as  we  have  in  Gen 
xxxi.  48  a  similar  expression  .  "  This  heap  is  a 
witness  between  me  and  thee,"  where  the  same  words 
occur  in  Hebrew,  we  must  regard  it  with  Keil, 
Henderson,  and  others,  as  meaning  that  God  was 
a  witness  to  the  marriage,  or  to  the  covenant 
made  between  the  parties.  The  divorced  wife  is 
now  tenderly  called  the  wife  of  thy  youth,  who 
has  been  the  choice  of  thy  youth,  the  partner  of 
thy  joys  and  sorrows,  and  the  wife  of  thy  cove- 
nant, with  whom  thou  didst  make  a  covenant  for 
life. 

Ver.  15.  But  did  not  he  make  one  only. 
And  yet  had  he  a  residue  of  the  spirit.  And 
wherefore  one  ?  He  sought  a  godly  race.  We 
come  now  to  the  most  difficult  verse  of  all  others 
in  the  prophecy.  There  has  been  an  extraordi- 
nary difference  of  opinion  as  to  its  construction  and 
sense.  Kohler  styles  it  most  justly  a  crux  inter- 
pretum.  The  Septuagint  translator  seems  to  have 
given  his  understanding  a  holiday,  and  made  his 
pen  supply  its  place.  Not  a  spark  of  light  can  he 
struck  from  the  words,  and  nothing  but  words. 
The  subject  under  discussion  is  divorce.  In  the 
preceding  verse,  to  add  sanctity  to  the  marriage  tie, 
Jehovah  is  said  to  have  been  a  witness  of  it,  and 
the  wife  is  to  be  regarded  as  bound  by  a  solemn 
covenant  to  the  husband.  What  more  natural 
now  than  that  the  prophet  should  recall  the  insti- 
tution of  marriage  in  the  beginning,  as  of  divine 
sanction  ■?  This  would  be  a  conclusive  argument, 
and  is  the  very  one  our  Saviour  made  use  of,  when 
speaking  of  divorce,  "  Have  ye  not  read,  that  He 
which  made  them  at  the  beginning  made  them 
male  and  female.  And  said.  For  this  cause  shall 
a  man  leave  father  and  mother  and  shall  cleave 
to  his  wife,  and  they  twain  shall  be  one  flesh, 
wherefore,  they  are  no  more  twain,  but  one  Jlesh." 
The  argument  is  introduced  abruptly.     Did  not 

Jehovah  make  one  ?     The  word  "^P^j  to  a  Jew, 

perfectly  familiar  with  "^^^  ~^W^  ^"  Genesis, 
would  immediately  suggest  the  one  flesh,  the  one 
pair,  of  Gen.  ii.  24. 

And  wherefore  one  ?  In  the  Hebrew,  one  has 
the  article,  "fH^H)  and  must  be  understood  of  the 

same  subject  with  the  preceding,  "^'^'v'  ^*^cl 
wherefore  did  he  make  one  pair  ?  Yet  had  he 
the  residue  of  the  Spirit  ?  This  applies  most 
naturally  to  the  life-giving  spirit  of  God  —  his 
creative  power,  not  exhausted,  for  He  might  hava 
made  many  women  for  one  man. 

That  he  might  seek  a  godly  seed.  The  de 
sign  of  God  was  to  perpetuate  a  godly  seed  This 
is  counteracted  by  frequent  divorce. 


CHAPTEK  II.  10-16 


17 


Most  English  commentators  adopt   this   inter- 

Sretation.  Another  view  has  been  advocated  by 
erome,  Ewald,  Reinke,  Bottcher,  and  others, 
which  makes  Jehovah  the  subject,  instead  of  the 
object.  They  are  led  to  this  view  by  verse  10, 
"  Nath  not  one  God  created  us  J  '  They  therefore 
translate  it,  "And  did  not  onk  (the  same  God) 
create  them.  And  what  did  the  one  seek  ?  " 

Another  class  of  commentators  refer  the  one  to 
Abraham,  and  translate  the  clause,  But  did  not 
the  single  one  do  it  '.  And  yet  a  divine  Spirit  re- 
mained to  him.  But  what  did  the  single  one  do  ? 
They  regard  the  one  as  a  designation  of  Abraham, 
and  found  their  opinion  on  Isaiah  li.  2,  /  called 
him  alone,  and  Ezekiel  xxxiii.  24,  where  Abraham 
is  spoken  of  as  one  in  opposition  to  the  many  of 
the  people.  In  both  these  passages  there  is  an  ex- 
press mention  of  Abraham,  which  is  not  the  case 
here.  They  consequently  understand,  Yet  had  he 
the  residue  of  the  Spirit  as  meaning,  that  he  re- 
mained a  good  man. 

Still  another  interpretation  is  adopted  by  a  con- 
siderable number  of  commentators,  that  there  is 

no  question  but  a  simple  affirmation :  *^nM  S7  is 
to  be  translated  no  one,  that  the  object  of  made  is 
to  be  supplied  from  the  previous  sentence,  that  by 
the  residue  of  the  spirit  is  meant,  any  portion  of 
reason,  any  sense  of  right  and  wrong.  The  one  of  the 
second  clause  they  refer  to  Abraham.  The  whole 
verse  would  then  be  translated,  "  No  one,  who  has 
a  sense  of  right  and  wrong,  has  done  what  you 
are  doing.  And  what  did  the  one  do  7 "  They 
suppose  that  the  guilty  parties  were  wont  to  ap- 
peal to  the  case  of  Abraham  to  justify  their  con- 
duct, and  that  the  answer  shows  that  his  case  was 
no  precedent.  There  are  very  serious  objections 
to  this  view.     We  have  to  supply  the  object  of 

ntt?r,  made,  and  the  predicate  of  THSn  in  the 

second  clause.  The  position  of  ^71,  and  the 
question  in  the  second  clause,  render  it  probable 
that  it  is  a  question.  Had  the  Prophet  meant  to 
say,  that  no  one  ever  did  so,  he  would  have  used 

IJ?*M   ^'*M,  as   Gen.    xxxix.    11,   or   simply  1"*W. 

Further,  to  understand  the  residue  of  the  spirit 

of  any  reason,   or  moral   sense,  is  strained,  and 

lastly,  ^n^  refers  to  two  different  subjects,  ac- 
cording to  this  view,  first,  to  '^  no  one,"  and,  sec- 
gndly,  to  Abraham,  though  the  article  is  used,  re- 
ferring it  back  to  the  former. 

There  is  an  interpretation  adopted  by  Fairbairn 
and  Moore,  which  refers  the  one  to  the  one  chosen 
seed,  the  holy  nation,  but  this  strikes  us  as  by  no 
means  so  consistent  and  forcible  as  the  one  which 
refers  it  to  the  one  flesh. 

Ver.  15.  Therefore  take  heed.  Then  follows 
a  warning  against  the  sin  rebuked.  The  perfect 
with  vav  must  be  translated  as  imperative,  as  is 
often  the  case.  To  take  heed  to  your  spirit  is  to 
take  heed  to  yourself  (Deut.  iv.  15  ;  Joshua  xxiiL 
11). 

Let  no  one  deal  treacherously.  The  third 
person  is  here  used  for  the  second  in  the  previous 
clause.  This  is  often  the  case  where  there  is  no 
change  of  subject.  There  is  no  advantage  in  fol- 
lowing the  LXX.  and  retaining  the  second  person. 

Ver.  16.  For  I  hate  divorce.  The  Prophet 
acre  ^-ives  the  reason  of  the  warning.  Jehovah 
•ays,  "  /  hate  divorce."  The  LXX.,  Vulgate,  and 
Luther,  construe  this  very  differently  as  a  permis- 
lion  of  divorce ;  If  thou  hate  her  put  her  away. 
Bat  this  is  inconsistent  with  the  context,  which 


condemns  divorce ;  it  is  in  opposition  to  the  law 
which  permits  divorce  only  for  some  great  miscon- 
duct, "  some  unclean  thing,"  and  which  (Deut.  xxi. 
15)  requires  the  husband  to  maintain  a  hated  wife. 
In  favor  of  the  translation,  adopted  by  Kohler, 
Keil,  Henderson,  /  hate  divorce,  may  be  urged,  that 
the  form  may  be  considered  as  a  participle,  that 
the  first  person  is  often  understood  before  partici 
pies,  that,  saith  Jehovah,  God  of  Israel,  which 
follows  in  the  Hebrew,  implies  that  Jehovah  is  speak 
ing  directly  in  his  own  person. 

ver.  16.  And  him  who  covers  with  violence 
his  garment.  The  design  of  this  clause,  parallel 
to  and  coordinate  with,  1  hate  divorce,  is  to  ex- 
press more  emphatically  the  consequences  and, 
enormity  of  the  sin,  that  it  is  exceedingly  heinous, 
and  the  height  of  cruelty.  We  read  in  Ps.  cix. 
1 8,  29,  of  being  clothed  with  cursing  as  with  a  gar- 
ment, of  being  clothed  with   shame.     We  find  the 

same  construction  of  ^B?  with  ^^  in  Num.  xvi. 
33  ;  Ps.  cvi.  15  ;  Hah.  ii.  14,  where  the  object  cov- 
ered is  preceded  by  737  as  here.  "  The  earth  cov- 
ered them,"  "  And  covered  the  company  of  Abi- 
ram,"  "  As  the  waters  cover  the  sea."  We  there- 
fore understand  the  relative,  which  is  frequently 
omitted,  and  regard  this  clause  as  the  continuation 
of  the  preceding,  "I  hate  divorce,"  only  with  a  more 
emphatic  statement.  Most  of  the  recent  commen- 
tators understand  by  his  garment,  his  wife.  This, 
says  Kohler,  is  a  very  uncertain  and  rare  Arabic 
idiom,  and  contrary  to  all  Hebrew  usage.  Nor  is 
it  at  all  necessary,  as  the  interpretation  we  have 
given  does  not  introduce  a  different  idea,  and  u 
confirmed  by  the  following,  "  saith  the  Lord  of 
Hosts." 


DOCTBIMAL  AND  PRACTICAL. 

The  frequency  of  divorce  in  the  United  States, 
so  that  in  one  of  the  States  divorce  is  allowed  for 
"  misconduct,"  reveals  the  same  state  of  things 
existing  now,  as  was  here  condemned  by  Jehovah, 
and  must  bring  with  it  the  same  evils,  and  the 
same  punishment.  What  tongue  can  adequately 
tell,  what  heart  conceive,  the  untold  misery  from 
this  cause,  especially  to  the  deserted  wives,  and 
the  children  left  without  a  mother's  care !  How 
little  is  the  indissoluble  nature  of  the  marriage  re- 
lation regarded  !  and  the  fact,  tliat  the  Lord  was 
the  witness  of  it,  and  will  be  a  swift  witness  against 
those  who  violate  it !  The  Saviour  only  allows  of 
one  cause  of  divorce,  and  regards  divorce  for  any 
other  as  adultery. 

Matthew  Henkt  :  "  The  poor  wives  were 
ready  to  break  their  hearts,  and  not  daring  to 
make  their  case  known  to  any  other,  they  com- 
plained to  God,  and  covered  the  altar  of  the  Lord 
with  tears,  with  weeping,  and  with  crying.  This 
is  illustrated  by  the  case  of  Hannah,  who,  upon 
the  account  of  her  husband's  having  another  wife 
(though  otherwise  a  kind  husband)  and  the  dis- 
content thence  arising,  fretted  and  wept,  was  in 
bitterness  of  soul,  and  would  not  eat.  It  is  a  reason 
given  why  husbands  and  wives  should  live  in  holy 
love,  that  their  prayers  be  not  hindered.  The  Lord 
has  been  witness  to  the  marriage  covenant  between 
thee  and  her,  for  to  Him  you  appealed  concerning 
your  sincerity  in  it  and  fidelity  to  it ;  He  has  been 
a  witness  to  all  the  violations  of  it,  and  is  ready  to 
judge  between  thee  and  h'r.  It  is  highly  aggra- 
vated by  the  consideration  of  the  persons  wronged 
and  abused.     First,  she  is  thy  wife,  thy  own,  bon« 


18 


MALACHl. 


of  thy  bone,  and  flesh  of  thy  flesh ;  the  nearest  to 
thee  of  all  the  relations  thou  hast  in  the  world, 
and  to  cleave  to  whom  thou  must  quit  the  rest. 
Secondly.  She  is  the  wife  of  thy  youth,  who  had  thy 
affections  when  they  were  at  the  strongest,  was 
thy  first  choice,  and  with  whom  thou  hast  lived 
long.  Let  not  the  darlitig  of  thy  youth  be  the  scorn 
and  loathing  of  thy  age.  lldrdly.  She  is  thy  com- 
panion ;  she  has  long  been  an  equal  sharer  with  thee 
m  thy  cares  and  griefs  and  joys.  Fourthly,  she  is 
the  wife  of  thy  covenant,  to  whom  thou  art  so 
firmly  bound,  that,  while  she  continues  faithful, 
thou  canst  not  be  loosed  from  her,  for  it  was  a  cov- 
enant for  life.  Married  people  should  often  call  to 
mind  their  marriage  vows,  and  review  them  with 
all  seriousness,  as  those  that  make  conscience  of 
performing  what  they  promised. 

Moore  :  The  phrases,  "wife  of  thy  youth,"  and 
"  companion  "  are  thrown  in  to  show  the  aggra- 
vated nature  of  ttiis  offense.  "  She  whom  you  thus 
wronged  was  the  companion  of  those  earlier  and 
brighter  days,  when  in  the  bloom  of  her  young 
beauty  she  left  her  father's  house,  and  shared  your 
early  struggles,  and  rejoiced  in  your  later  success  ; 
who  walked  arm-in-arm  with  you  along  the  pil- 
grimage of  life,  cheering  you  in  its  trials  by  her 
gentle  ministry  ;  and  now,  when  the  bloom  of  her 
youth  is  faded,  and  the  friends  of  her  youth  have 
gone,  when  father  and  mother  whom  she  left  for 
you  are  in  the  grave,  then  yon  cruelly  cast  her  off 


as  a  yrorn-out,  worthless  thing,  and  insult  her  ho 
liest  afl'ections  by  putting  another  in  her  place." 
There  is  something  very  touching  in  these  allusion! 
to  the  aggravations  of  this  wrong,  arising  from  the 
tender  associations  and  memories  of  youth. 

Pressel,  on  ver.  10:  Have  we  not  all  one  Fa- 
ther ■?  No  faith  without  love,  and  no  love  without 
faith.  He  who  keeps  the  Father  and  Creator  of 
all  men  before  his  eyes  must  love  all  men  as  his 
brethren,  and  he  who  recognizes  in  other  men  his 
brethren  must  in  the  Creator  of  all  men  love  the 
Father.  The  prophet's  mode  of  reasoning  is  not 
unlike  that  of  the  Apostle  John  in  his  First  Epis- 
tle, iii.  17;  iv.  11,  20,  21.  The  reference  of  the 
prophet  to  the  Heavenly  Father  is  a  glimpse  in 
the  Old  Testament  of  a  doctrine  which  was  not 
fully  brought  to  light  till  the  time  of  the  New  Tes- 
tament. 

On  ver.  14.  Jehovah  is  witness  between  thee  and 
the  wife  of  thy  youth.  This  might  be  made  use  of 
as  a  solemn  warning  by  a  minister  against  divorce, 
whether  intended  or  accomplished,  as  it  represents 
to  us  the  sanctity  of  marriage,  and  at  the  same 
time  awakens  in  the  hearts  of  the  married  all  love- 
ly and  sweet  recollections. 

On  ver.  15.  He  who  regards  the  divine  Spirit 
within  us  will  be  proof  against  the  lusts  of  the 
flesh.  He  who  indulges  these  lusts  drives  away 
from  his  heart  more  and  more  the  residue  of  the 
divine  Spirit. 


SECTION  IV. 


7%e  sending  of  JehovaKs  Messenger.     The  coming  of  the  Angel   of  the    Covenant  to 
judge,  but  not  to  utterly  destroy  Israel  (Ch.  ii.  17-iii.  7). 

17  Ye  have  wearied  the  Lord  with  your  words.  Yet  ye  say,  wherein  have  we 
wearied  Him  ?  When  ye  say,  Every  one  that  doeth  evil  is  good  in  the  sight  of 
the  Lord,  and  He  delighteth  in  them  ;  or,  "Where  is  the  God  of  judgment  ? 

Chapter  III. 


Behold,  I  will  send  my  messenger,  and  he  shall  prepare  the  way  before  me  :  and 
the  Lord,  whom  ye  seek,  shall  suddenly^  [unexpectedly]  come  to  his  temple,  even 
the  messenger  [angel,  dyyeAo^,  LXX.]  of  the  covenant,  whom  ye  delight  in  :  behold, 
he  shall  come,  saith  the  Lord  of  Hosts.  But  who  may  abide  the  day  of  his  com- 
ing ?  and  who  shall  stand  when  He  appeareth  ?  for  He  is  like  a  refiner's  fire,  and 
like  fuller's  soap  [lyej  ;  And  He  shall  sit  as  a  refiner  and  purifier  of  silver :  and 
He  shall  purify  the  sons  of  Levi,  and  purge  them  as  gold  and  sUver,  that  they 
may  oiFer  unto  the  Lord  an  offering  in  righteousness.  Then  shall  the  offering  o^ 
Judah  and  Jerusalem  be  pleasant  unto  the  Lord  as  in  the  days  of  old,  and  as  lu 
former  years.  And  I  will  come  near  to  you  to  judgment :  and  I  wUl  be  a  swift 
witness  against  the  sorcerers,  and  against  the  adulterers,  and  against  false  swearers, 
and  against  those  that  oppress  *  the  hireling  in  his  wages,  the  widow,  and  the  father- 
less, and  that  turn  aside  [piurai.  The  Keri  reads  singular']  the  Stranger  from  his  right,  and 
fear  not  me,  saith  the  Lord  of  Hosts.  For  I  am  the  Lord,*  I  change  not  [For  I, 
Jehovah,  change  not]  ;  therefore  ye  sons  of  Jacob  are  not  consumed. 


CHAPTERS  11.  17-III.  7. 


18 


TEXTUAL  AND  GBAMMATICAl 

1  Ver.  1.  —  DSnS,  not  immediately  (statim  Jerome),  but  unawares,  unexpectedly,  LXX.  suddenly.     Messinger,  co» 

'vspoDding  to  angel  in  Greek,  Angel  of  the  Covenant,  identical  with  the  Lord,  ]TTSn.     This  form  is  always  spoken  di 
JahoTah  ;  Ex.  xxiii.  17  ;  Ps.  cxiv.  7  ;  Is.  i.  24. 

2  Vei.  6. —  'nn!2L3,  swift,  corresponding  to  DSiHS,  Terse  1,  unexpectedly. 

3  Ver.   5.  —  pii?"^,  followed  by  a  neuter  object  only  here,  and  in  Micah  ii.  2. 

4  Ver.  6.  —  Jehovah  is  not  the  predicate,  but  in  apposition  with  I :  the  parallel,  ye  sons  of  Jacob,  shows  this. 


EXEQETICAL  AND  CRITICAL. 

Ver.  17.  Ye  have  wearied  the  Lord  with 
yovir  words.  This  verse  should  have  been  the 
first  verse  of  the  third  chapter,  for  a  uew  subject 
begins  here,  having  no  very  close  connection  with 
what  precedes.  The  prophet  is  here  opposing  the 
unbelief  of  a  class,  who,  like  the  Pharisees,  served 
God,  kept  his  ordinance,  and  walked  mournfully 
before  Him,  but  who  lost  their  faith  in  Providence, 
when  God  delayed  to  punish  the  wicked,  and  who 
complained,  not  in  words  perhaps,  for,  as  Cocceius 
remarks,  "  Scripture  is  wont  to  ascribe  to  the 
wicked  expressions  suitable  to  their  character,"  — 
that  He  treated  all  alike,  for  if  this  was  not  the 
case,  why  did  He  not  punish  the  wicked  1  That 
by  the  "  doers  of  evil "  here,  and  by  the  sorcerers, 
adulterers,  false  swearers,  and  oppressors  of  cli.  iii. 
5,  and  by  the  proud  (ch.  iii.  15),  are  meant  sinners 
of  the  Jews,  and  not  of  the  Gentiles,  seems  perfectly 
evident,  for  these  were  oifenses  against  the  law  of 
Moses.  The  prophecy  had  nothing  to  do  with  the 
heathen,  who  were  without  the  pale  of  the  Cove- 
nant. Such  a  denunciation  of  God's  judgment 
upon  the  heathen  would  have  gratified  the  haughty 
and  intolerant  spirit  of  the  Jews.  Strange  to  say, 
this  reference  has  been  made  by  Jerome,  Hengsten- 
berg,  Hitzig,  Reinke,  Bunsen,  Keil.  The  burden 
of  the  third  chapter  is,  Maranatha !  The  Lord 
cometh  ! 

Ch.  iii.  i  Behold,  1  will  send  my  Messenger. 
The  prophet  now  opposes  to  the  unbelief  of  the 
people  Jehovah's  own  word.  He  will  come  for 
judgment,  but  before  his  coming.  He  will  send  his 
messenger  to  prepare  his  way.  It  is  not  said,  a 
Messenger,  but  his  Messenger,  the  one  familiar  to 
them  from  Isaiah's  prophecy  (ch.  xl.  3),  where  the 
Hebrew  words,  to  prepare  the  ivay,  are  identical 
with  those  here.  The  crier  of  Isaiah  is  here  de- 
scribed as  the  Messenger  of  Jehovah.  In  both 
prophecies  his  office  is  the  same.  That  Malachi  is 
not  here  speaking  of  himself,  nor  of  an  ideal  per- 
son, in  whom  the  whole  prophetic  order  culmi- 
nated, as  Hengstenberg  maintains,  is  clear  from 
the  fact  that  this  messenger  is  called  in  ch  iv.  5 
Elijah,  the  prophet ;  that  our  Lord,  speaking  of 
John  the  Baptist,  declares,  "  This  is  he,  of  whom 
it  is  written.  Behold,  I  send  my  messenger  before 
thy  face,  which  shall  prepare  thy  way  before  thee  " 
(Matt.  xi.  10  ;  Luke  vii.  27),  and  that  Mark  makes 
use  of  this  prophecy  as  fulfilled  in  John,  quoting 
it,  indeed,  as  from  Isaiah,  because  he  was  the  Ma- 
jor Prophet,  according  to  Tregelles'  text  of  Mark 
s.  2  :  "  Many  of  the  children  of  Israel  shall  he 
turn  to  the  Lord,  their  God,  and  he  shall  go  before 
him  (i.  e.,  the  Lord,  their  God,  the  Angel  of  the 
Covenant,  the  Lord  of  Malachi  iii.  1 )  in  the  spirit 
and  power  of  Elijah  (Luke  i.  16). 

Chap.  iii.  1.  The  Lord  whom  ye  seek  shall 
suddenly  come  to  his   temple,  even  the  An- 


gel of  the  Covenant.  The  Lord,  whom  ye  seek 
refers  back  to  the  preceding  verse,  where  is  the 

God  of  Judgment  ?  The  word  Lord,  T^"^^,  with 
the  article,  is  applied  only  to  God.  In  the  parallel 
clause,  even  the  angel  of  the  covenant,  he  is  desig- 
nated by  a  peculiar  title  expressing  his  office,  as 
this  is  the  only  place  where  this  official  title  oc- 
curs, it  requires  explanation. 

From  a  very  early  period  we  find  mention  of  an 
extraordinary  Messenger,  or  Angel,  who  is  some- 
times called  the  Angel  of  God,  at  others,  the  Angel 
of  Jehovah.  He  is  represented  as  the  Mediator  be- 
tween the  invisible  God  and  men  in  all  God's  com- 
munications and  dealings  with  men.  To  this  An- 
gel divine  names,  attributes,  purposes,  and  acts  are 
ascribed.  He  occasionally  assumed  a  human  form, 
as  in  his  interviews  with  Hagar,  Abraham,  Jacob, 
Joshua,  Gideon,  Manoah,  and  his  wife.  He  went 
before  the  camp  of  Israel  on  the  night  of  the  Ex- 
odus. In  Exodus  xxiii.  20,  Jehovah  said,  "  Be- 
hold, I  send  an  angel  before  thee  to  bring  thee 
into  the  place,  which  I  have  prepared.  My  name 
is  in  him."  In  Isaiah  Ixiii.  9  he  is  called  the  Angel 
of  hia  Presence,  or  face,  where  there  is  a  reference  to 
Ex.  xxxiii.  14,  \^,  where  Jehovah  said  to  Moses, 
"  My  presence  (or  Hebrew,  My  face)  shall  go  with 
thee,  and  Moses  said.  If  thy  face  go  not  with  us, 
carry  us  not  up  hence."  He  is  called  the  face  of 
God,  because  though  no  man  can  see  his  face  and 
live,  yet  the  Angel  of  his  face  is  the  brightness  of 
his  g'lory,  and  the  express  image  of  his  person. 
In  him  Jehovah's  presence  is  manifested,  and  his 
glory  reflected,  for  the  glory  of  God  shines  in  the 
faceof  Jesus  Christ.  There  is  thus  a  gradual  de- 
velopment in  the  Old  Testament  of  the  doctrine 
of  the  incarnation,  of  the  distinction  of  persons  in 
the  Godhead,  not  brought  to  light  fully,  lest  it 
should  interfere  with  the  doctrine  of  the  unity  of 
God.  (For  a  more  full  discussion  of  the  Angel  of 
Jehovah,  see  Hengstenberg's  Christology,  vol.  i.  p. 
161,  Keith's  Translation;  Lange  On  Genesis,  p. 
386;  Keil  On  Genesis,  p.  184). 

We  would  further  remark  that  7f  the  Covenant 
has  been  understood  by  most  Commentators,  as 
referring  to  the  New  Covenant  of  which  Jesus  is 
the  Mediator  (Heb.  ix.  15).  Kohler  and  Keil  un- 
derstand by  it  the  Old  Covenant,  in  which  God 
promised  to  dwell  with  his  people.  In  that  case, 
the  Angel  is  the  Mediator  of  the  Old  Covenant. 
But  we  need  not  restrict  it  to  either,  but  consider 
it  applicable  to  both,  to  all  God's  covenant  rela- 
tions to  man.  Behold  he  shall  come  must  be  predi- 
cated of  the  covenant  angel. 

Ver.  2.  But  who  may  abide  the  day  of  hiB 
coming.  We  find  similar  language  in  Joel  ii.  11 : 
"  The  day  of  the  Lord  is  great  and  very  terrible,  and 
who  can  abide  it  ?  "  The  question,  who  shall  abide 
it,  is  an  emphatic  negative,  no  one  can  abide  it. 
As  the  Lord  is  a  righteous  judge,  the  day  ia 
which  He  ccmes  must  be  a  day  of  decisive  judy 


20 


MALACHI. 


ment.  As  Augustine  says,  "  The  first  and  second 
advent  of  Christ  arc  here  brouj^ht  together." 
Malachi  sees  the  great  white  throne  in  the  back- 
ground. In  the  hist  clause  of  this  verse  he  gives 
the  reason  why  it  is  impossible  to  endure  it,  since 
He  is  like  the  fire  of  the  refiner,  which  separates 
all  dross,  and  like  the  lye  of  the  washer,  which 
cleanses  all  stains. 

The  word  -"I" "^2,  which  is  translated  in  our 
version  soap,  occurs  only  here  and  in  Jeremiah 
ii.  22.  Soap  was  unknown  to  the  ancients,  and 
this  was  a  vegetable  substance,  from  the  salt- 
wort, which  was  burned  and  water  poured  on  its 
ashes. 

Ver.  3.  And  he  shall  sit  as  a  refiner  and 
purifier  of  silver.  In  the  second  verse  the  Lord 
is  the  fire  ;  here  by  a  slight  change  in  the  figure, 
he  is  the  smelter,  who  lets  the  pure  metal  flow  off, 
while  the  dross  remains  behind.  He  shall  sit  is 
pictorial  to  make  the  figure  more  striking. 

This  judgment  begins  at  the  house  of  God,  with 
the  priests  who  stand  in  the  closest  relation  to 
Him.  This  purification  will  result  in  the  cutting 
off  the  impenitent,  and  in  the  reformation  of  those 
who  repent,  so  that  they  offer  sacrifices  in  a  proper 
state  of  heart,  in  righteousness. 

Ver.  4.  Then  shall  the  oStering,  etc.  When 
the  priests  are  thus  purified,  then  the  sacrifice  of 
the  whole  nation  will  be  acceptable,  as  in  the  early 
and  better  times,  as  in  the  days  of  David,  to  the 
Lord.  The  Masora  remarks,  that  the  prophetic 
lesson  for  the  Sabbath  before  the  Passover  begins 
here  and  ends  with  the  prophecy.  This  lesson 
was  selected  beca'use  of  the  injunction  in  ch.  iii.  4, 
to  remember  the  law  of  Moses. 

Ver.  5.  And  I  will  come  near  to  you  to  judg- 
ment. The  prophet  proceeds  to  show  that  the 
coming  judgment  will  not  be  only  upon  the  priests 
but  upon  all  the  people.  He  will  practically  con- 
vince the  wicked  by  his  judgment,  and  that  too 
unexpectedly,  and  thus  will  be  a  swift  witness. 
The  sins  specified  here  were  all  sins  against  the 
law  of  Moses,  some  of  them  to  be  capitally  pun- 
ished. The  Jews  were  very  much  addicted  from 
this  time  onward,  as  Josephus  and  the  New  Testa- 
ment testily,  to  sorcery,  or  witchcraft.  The  op- 
pressors are  mentioned.  Those  who  oppress  the 
wages  of  the  hireling.  This  verb  is  followed  by 
the  accusative  of  the  person,  excepting  here,  and 
in  Micah  ii.  2.  That  turn  aside  the  stranger  (Deut. 
xxvii.  19),  or  oppress  him-  The  tenderest  love 
to  the  stranger  is  everywhere  breathed  in  the 
law  (Ex.  xxiii.  9;  Deut.  x.  17,  18;  Deut.  xxvii. 
19). 

Ver.  6.  For  I  Jehovah  change  not,  there- 
fore ye  sons  of  Jacob  are  not  consumed.  Jeho- 
vah is  not  here  the  predicate,  as  in  our  version 
and  Luther's,  but  is  in  apposition  with  the  pro- 
noun /,  in  contrast  with  the  sons  of  Jacob.  For 
is  causal.  It  is  because  Jehovah  is  unchangeable 
in  his  gifts  and  calling,  that  He  will  not  suffer  Is- 
rael wholly  to  perish,  though  their  sins  deserved 
their  destruction.  He  must  accomplish  his  pur- 
poses of  mercy.  Kohler  finds  in  the  phrase  srnis 
of  Jacob,  an  intimation  that  they  resembled  Jacob 
in  character  before  he  became  Israel,  but  it  is  bet- 
ter to  regard  it  as  an  emphatic  expression  for  the 
covenant  nation.  These  do  not  perish,  because 
their  existence  rests  upon  the  promise  of  the  un- 
changeable God.  as  Moore  remarks,  "  The  sons  of 
Jacob  shall  no»  be  consumed,  the  seed  of  Christ 
shall  not  ])erish.  The  unehangeableness  of  God  is 
Ihe  .sheet-anchor  of  the  Church." 


DOCTRINAL  AND  ETHICAL. 

E.  PococK  :  On  chap.  iii.  1.  He  should  come 
unawares  when  men  should  not  think  on  or  b« 
aware  of  Him.  By  the  temple  no  doubt  is  meant 
the  temple  at  Jerusalem,  then  Jately  built  aftei 
their  return  from  the  Babylonish  captivity,  which, 
whatever  alterations  were  made  in  it,  "was  still 
looked  upon  as  one  till  the  time  it  was  destroyed 
by  the  Romans ;  and  by  the  Jews  called  the  Secona 
Temple  in  respect  to  that  former,  built  by  Solo 
mon,  and  destroyed  by  the  Chaldeans.  To  this 
temple  it  is  here  said,  that  the  Lord  here  spoken 
of  should  come  ;  and  so  did  Christ  whom  we  say 
to  be  that  Lord ;  and  of  his  coming  to  it  and 
his  appearances  there  at  several  times  we  read, 
He  was  there  first  presented  by  his  mother  (Luke  ii. 
22) ;  there  again,  when  He  was  twelve  years  old, 
found  sitting  among  the  doctors  (ver.  46),  where, 
in  his  answer  to  his  mother  who  told  him  that 
they  had  sought  Him  sorrowing.  He  may  seem  to 
allude  even  to  this  prophecy,  "  Wist  ye  not  that  I 
must  be  in  my  Father's  house  ?  "  Was  it  not  fore- 
told that  He  should  come  to  the  temple?  Was 
not  that  the  proper  place  for  Him  to  be  in,  and 
for  them  to  look  after  Him  in  1  Several  other 
times  we  read  of  his  going  to  it,  preaching  in  it, 
received  with  Hosannahs,  exercising  his  authority 
in  it,  in  purging  it,  and  vindicating  the  dignity  of 
it,  and  driving  out  thence  those  that  profaned  it. 
Any  of  these  appearances  there  is  suflBcient  to 
prove  in  and  by  Him  to  have  been  made  good 
that  which  we  take  to  be  the  main  drift  of  this  ex- 
pression in  this  prophecy,  namely,  that  the  Lord 
(Christ  or  Messiah)  here  spoken  of  was  to  come 
while  the  temple  (that  temple  then  built)  was 
standing ;  which  is  likewise  evidently  foretold  by 
the  Prophet  Haggai  (ch.  ii.  7),  that  into  it  shoulu 
come  the  desire  of  all  nations,  and  it  should  be  filled 
with  glory,  yea,  that  thereby  the  glory  of  that  latter 
house  should  be  greater  than  that  of  the  former  (ver. 
9),  though  it  were  then  in  their  eyes  as  nothing  in 
comparison  with  it  (ver.  3). 


HOMILETICAL  AND  PRACTICAL. 

Pressel,  on  ver.  17.  Where  is  the  God  of  judg- 
ment? The  judgment  of  the  world  and  of  Scrip- 
ture as  to  the  riddle  of  human  destiny ;  or,  there 
is  a  God,  who  lives  to  avenge  and  punish, —  a 
truth  which  even  men  of  the  world  admit,  but 
which  only  lovers  of  the  truth  rightly  understand. 
Ye  have  wearied,  etc.  Whereby  is  the  God  of  in- 
finite patience  wearied  1  Not  by  our  prayers.  Not 
even  by  our  infirmities,  but  indeed  by  our  hard- 
ness and  stubbornness,  which  will  not  confess  our 
guilt,  and  be  converted. 

On  ch.  iii.  1 .  Though  there  are  quotations  fron; 
the  Old  Testament  in  the  New,  which  are  to  be  re- 
garded only  as  an  application,  though  never  a  ran- 
dom one,  of  the  language  of  the  Old,  yet,  in  all  the 
quotations,  which  are  accompanied  by  an  explana- 
tion from  the  Lord  Himself,  or  his  Apostles,  we 
have  the  most  certain  commentary,  which  informs 
us  how  the  Old  Testament  writer  himself  under- 
stood, and  how  he  would  have  others  understand 
his  prophecy.  On  this  ground,  such  an  interpreta- 
tion of  Mai.  iii.  1 ,  as  Hengstenberg  and  others  have 
given,  is  untenable;  for  when  the  lord  Himself 
(Matt.  xi.  10  ;  Luke  vii.  27)  says,  "This  is  he  of 
whom  it  is  written,"  we  must  understand  by,  "  my 
messentrer,"  a  definite  person,  first  named  by  Mai 


CHAi'TEU   111.  7-12. 


21 


«chi,  and  not  tlie  collective  body  of  the  prophets, 
extending  down  to  .lohn  the  Baptist.  If  there  is 
to  be  a  second  coming  of  our  Lord,  it  niay  be  as- 
sumed that  the  prophecy  before  us  will  be  fultilled 
in  all  its  particulars,  and  tor  the  very  reason  that 
Malaclii  knows  no  ditl'erence  between  a  first  and 
second  coming  of  the  Lord,  and  his  Messiah.  Now 
it  cannot  but  be  expected,  that  the  second  coming 
of  the  Lord  will  be  accompanied  with  the  same 
purification  as  the  tirst  was  in  the  children  of  Is- 
rael, and  that  the  process  of  this  purification  will 
have  the  same  general  cause  and  result.  Though 
this  is  to  be  expected,  it  by  no  means  follows  that 
this  will  be  accomplished  by  a  second  sending  of 
John  the  Baptist,  or  by  the  sending  of  only  one 
man,  after  the  ni  inner  of  Elijah,  since  the  person 
of  the  Lord  Hinistlf  is  carefully  to  be  distin- 
guished from  that  of  his  forerunner:  the  Lord  is 
one ;  the  forerunner,  whether  John  or  Elijah,  may 
be  more  than  one  :  the  Lord  is  for  all  nations  ;  Eli- 
jah and  John  only  for  the  people  of  Israel  ;  and 
when  the  second  coming  of  the  Lord  is  at  hand, 
there  may  be  also  among  the  different  nations  of 
the  world,  different  messengers,  like  Elijah  and 
John,  to  prepare  the  way  of  the  Lord,  as  indeed 
the  Revelation  of  John  speaks,  in  the  eleventh 
chapter,  of  two  such  witnesses. 

On  ver.  5.  We  need  only  further  remark,  that 
between  the  first  and  second  coming  of  our  Lord, 
a  process  of  purification  takes  place  in  portions  of 
Christendom,  by  virtue  of  which  the  impure  ele- 
ments will  be  cast  off,  the  hollowness  and  profana- 
tion of  God's  service  and  the  Christian  character 
will  be  exposed,  and  the  true  Christian  will  go  to 
meet  his  future  glory,  as  after  all  his  inevitable, 
and  often  fiery  trials,  he  reflects  the  image  of  his 
God  and  Saviour. 

Among  the  commentators  on  the  Prophets,  we 
must  reckon  the  great  Handel,  for  he  has  in  such 
a  way  illustrated  to  the  world  their  most  weighty 
prophecies  in  his  Oratorio  of  the  Messiah,  that  we 
cannot  read  them  without  being  reminded  of  his 
musical  commentary,  and  thereby  be  inspired,  as 
it  were,  to  interpret  them.  This  is  specially  true 
of  this  last  prophecy  of  the  Old  Testament. 

On  chap.  iii.  1  :  Behold,  the  daycometh  !  Two  Ad- 
vent questions  :  Dost  thou  believe  in  the  coming 
of  the  Lord  in  humiliation  1  and  dost  thou  hope 
for  his  coming  in  glory  ?  The  world  may  believe 
or  not,  the  Lord  cometh  :  the  world  may  prepare 
itself,  or  not,  the  Lord  judges.  This  first  Advent 
teaches  us  the  former,  and  his  second  Advent  the 
latter.  After  perhaps  the  hymn  has  been  sung, 
"  All  Christians  wait  for  thee,  O  Son  of  God  !  " 
lan  we  also  say,  "  And  love  thy  appearing  " 


The  Lord  once  said,  "  Blessed  are  they  who 
have  not  seen,  and  yet  have  believed,"  and  it  re 
mains  true  down  to  the  second  coming.  Motwith 
standing  God  calls  to  his  people.  Behold!  for  tru« 
faith  has  its  eyes  open  tor  that  which  happened  a 
the  tirst  coming  of  the  Lord,  for  that  which  will 
happen  at  his  second,  and  lor  that  which  must 
happen  in  us,  in  order  that  the  first  as  well  as  the 
second  coming  may  jjrove  our  salvation.  He  shall 
prepare  the  way  before  me.  Every  minister  of  the 
Church,  and  every  Christian,  in  the  most  private 
circle,  can  jjrepare  the  way  of  the  Lord  by  warn- 
ing and  teaching,  by  example  and  intercession,  but 
he  is  only  a  servant,  and  must  wait  in  the  humility 
and  patience  of  the  Lord  Himself.  Everything  in 
the  world  is  easier  to  be  calculated,  than  the  day 
\^  hen  the  Lord  comes,  and  easier  to  be  endured 
than  his  coming.  He  shall  sit  as  a  rejiner's  fire. 
The  refining  of  the  Lord  has  its  day,  and  the  day 
of  the  Lord  has  its  refining.  What  salutary  ter- 
ror, and  what  strong  consolation  must  this  com- 
parison of  the  divine  refiner  work  in  us  ! 

The  purifying  fire  is  at  hand  to  us  all.  It  brings 
with  it  a  torture,  for  which  the  world  has  no  sooth- 
ing balm  ;  it  penetrates  what  is  most  secret  and 
inmost ;  it  makes  manifest  whether  we  shall  be 
acknowledged  by  the  Lord,  or  cast  away.  If  we 
would  be  the  Lord's,  then  we  may  say.  The  Lord 
sits,  and  has  his  eyes  fixed  upon  me  even  in  the 
furnace,  and  especially  there.  He  intends  only  my 
purification,  and  should  the  smallest  grain  of  gold 
in  faith  and  love  be  found  in  me.  He  does  not  cast 
me  away  with  the  dross  of  this  world  ;  and  his  de- 
sign is  that  his  image  may  be  reflected  in  me,  and 
that  I  may  be  acceptable  to  Him.  The  prayer  of 
humility  and  faith  is,  0  Lord,  though  thou  shouldst 
find  no  gold  in  me,  let  me  only  be  found  as  useful 
silver. 

Ver.  5.  How  suddenly  and  how  deeply  will  the 
day  of  judgment  interrupt  the  pursuits  of  the 
world !  How  suddenly !  for  the  prophet  says, 
"  suddenly,"  and  "  a  swift  witness,"  so  that  the 
world  will  be  surprised  in  the  midst  of  its  pursuits. 
How  deeply !  for  all  unrighteous  actions  and 
causes,  however  great,  or  little,  will  be  rtjudged, 
and  brought  to  light  in  their  ungodliness.  Job  was 
able  to  comfort  himself  with  the  word,  "  My  wit- 
ness is  in  heaven  !  "  —  the  opposite  of  the  threat- 
ening word,  "  a  swift  witness  :  "  hence  the  question 
comes  up.  Have  I  a  witness  in  heaven  to  fear? 
What  does  He  see  with  his  all-seeing  eye  1  and 
what  sentence  will  He  hereafter  pass  upon  me  with 
his  all-decisive  lips  ? 


SECTION  V. 

The  People  are  rebuked  for  withholding  the  legal  Tithes  and  Offer%ng$. 

Chapter  III.  7-12. 

Even  from  the  days  of  your  fathers  ye  are  gone  away  from  mine  orctmancea 
and  have  not  kept  them.  Return  unto  me,  and  I  will  return  unto  you,  saith  the 
Lord  of  Hosts.  But  ye  said,  Wherein  shall  we  return  ?  Will  a  man  rob^  [defrai  d] 
God  ?  Yet  \_that,  Kcihier,  Keii,  Pressei],  ye  liave  robbed  me.  But  ye  say,  Wherein 
have  we  robbed  thee  ?     In  tithes  atul  offerings.^     [In  tithe  and  heave  offering."! 


N 


Z'l 


MALACHI. 


9  Ye  are  cursed  with  a  curse  :   for  [yet]  ye  have  robbed  me,  even  this  whole  nation. 

10  Bring  ye  all  the  tithes*  [tithe]  into  the  storehouse*  [treasury],  that  there  may  be 
meat  [food,  vuigate  fi6».?]  in  mine  house,  and  prove  me  now  herewith,  saith  the  Lord 
of  Hosts,  if  I  will  not''  open  you  the  windows  of  heaven,  and  pour  you  out  a 
blessing  that  there  shall  not  be  room  enough  to  receive  it  ^  [to  superabundance]. 

11  And  I  will  rebuke '^  the  devourer  for  your  sakes,^  and  he  shall  not  destroy  the 
fruits  of  your  ground  ;  neither  shall  your  vine  cast  her  fruit  ^^  before  the  time  in 

12  the  field,  saith  the  Lord  of  Hosts.  And  all  nations  shall  call  you  blessed :  for  ye 
shall  be  a  delightsome  land,  saith  the  Lord  of  Hosts. 


TEXTOAL  AND  GRAMMATICAL. 


1  Ver. 

8.- 

rob  God. 

a  Ver. 

8.- 

S  Ver.  10.  - 

4  Ver. 

10.- 

6  Ver. 

10.- 

6  Ver. 

10.- 

T  Ter. 

10.— 

•  Ver. 

11.— 

«  Ver. 

11.— 

10  Ver.  11.  — 

U  Ver 

11.- 

Mmer,  993, 1. 

—  273p,  found  only  in  ProT.  xzli.  3 :  to  cheat,  defraud.    The  Fut.  is  used  here  in  the  senae  of:  due  %  i 


HD^nri.     The  heave-offering. 
The  whole  tithe. 

niJiS,  storehouse,  or  treasury  ;  Neh.  xiii.  12. 
S  ^'DS,  not  an  oath,  whether  not. 
^T  means  need,  lack. 

721  negatives  the  idea  —  beyond  safflcienoj. 

"^V^i  ^  rebnke.   In  oh.  U.  8,  it  is  translated,  cormpt.    Dp^,  dattre  of  OM,  pnfll 
The  LXX.  read,  HTIPS,   I  wUl  destroy. 
v3ti7FI,  miscarry,  applied  to  the  vine. 
nntP2«    "^^^  future  is  here  used  contingently,  to  denote  a  probable  tatvn  oeennenoe.    See  Nort 


KXEQETICAL  AND  CRITICAL. 

Ver.  7.  Return  unto  me,  and  I  will  return 
onto  you,  saith  the  Lord  of  Hosts.  After  Jeho- 
yah  had  announced  the  coming  judgment  for  the 
long-continued  transgressions  of  the  people,  He 
adds  a  gracious  promise,  as  in  Zech  i.  3  :  "  Turn 
ye  unto  me,  saith  the  Lord,  and  I  will  return  unto 
you."  In  self-riahteous  delusion,  supposing  that 
they  lack  nothing,  and  need  no  repentance,  they 
inquire,  Wherein,  in  what  particular,  shall  we  re- 
turn ?  The  prophet  thereupon  shows  them  their 
Bin.  They  do  what  no  man  should  attempt.  They 
try  to  defraud  God  in  the  tithe  and  heave-offering, 
either  by  not  paying  them   at  all,  or  not  paying 

them  as  they  should.  The  word  272|7,  which  oc- 
curs besides  only  in  Proverbs  xxii.  3,  where  it  is 
translated,  spoil,  means  here,  as  the  connection 
shows,  defraud,  overreach  cheat. 

Ver.  8.  Will  a  man  rob  (or  defraud)  God? 
The  Prophet  appeals  to  their  conscience  for  a  de- 
cision as  to  the  baseness  of  their  conduct.  But 
ye  have  robbed,  or  defrauded,  me,  or,  That  ye 
have  robbed  me.  This  is  a  reason  of  the  pre- 
vious question,  since  you  have  defrauded  me. 

In  tithe  and  offering.  This  is  a  specification 
of  the  manner  in  which  they  had  robbed  God.  In 
Neh.  xiii.  10  we  find  a  striking  coincidence  with 
this  verse.  "  I  perceived,  that  the  portions  of  the 
Levites  had  not  been  given  them.  Then  brought  all 
Judah  the  tithe  of  the  corn,  wine,  and  oil." 

The  tithe,  according  to  Lev.  xxvii.  .30,  and  Dent. 
xiv.  22,  was  of  the  corn,  wine,  and  oil,  and  of  the 
firstlings  of  the  flock  and  herd,  for  the  mainten- 
ance of  the  Levites.  The  heave-offering  —  for  that 
is  here  referred  to  —  was  the  portion  of  the  priests. 
"  Ye  shall  give  the  heave-offering  to  the  priests." 
It  was  partly  a  free-will  offering,  and  partly  pre- 
•cribed  by  the  law.    They  withheld  tithes,  notwith- 


standing that  God  had  already  visited  them  with 
severe  punishment,  which  aggravated  their  guilt. 
They  had  been  cursed,  as  we  learn  from  the  fol- 
lowing verses,  with  failure  of  the  harvest  and  fam- 
ine. This  curse  corresponded  to  their  sin.  Aa 
they  had  refused  to  give  God  his  due  by  withhold- 
ing the  tithes  and  offerings,  so  had  He  withheld 
from  them  the  products  of  the  field. 

Ver.  9.  Ye  are  cursed  with  a  curse.  The 
position  of  the  noun  before  the  verb  is  here  highly 
emphatic.     Yet  me  ye  defraud.     It  is  not  neces 

sary  to  regard  the  !?  as  causal. 

Ver.  10.  Bring  ye  all  the  tithes  into  the 
storehouse.  The  prophet  now  enlarges  upon  the 
mode  of  recovering  the  divine  favor.  Israel  should 
not,  as  before,  keep  back  a  part  of  the  tithes,  but 
should  pay  the  whole  without  defrauding  Jehovah, 
that  there  might  be  food  for  the  priests  and  Le- 
vites. Notwithstanding  Jehovah  was  angry  with 
the  priests,  yet  He  cannot  suffer  the  people  to  with- 
hold the  tithe. 

Storehouse.  This  same  word  is  translated, 
Neh.  xiii.  12,  treasuries.  We  find  in  2  Chronicles 
xxxi.  1 1 ,  mention  of  chambers  in  the  Temple,  into 
which  they  were  to  bring  the  tithes.  In  Neh.  x. 
38,  the  Levites  were  to  bring  the  tithe  to  the  cham- 
bers, into  the  treasure-house. 

Prove  me  now  herewith.  The  object  of  the 
proof  of  Jehovah  was  not,  whether  He  would  be 
faithful  to  his  promise,  for  this  was  not  the  subject 
under  discussion,  but  whether  He  was  a  holy  and 
righteous  God,  for  this  had  been  called  in  question 
by  them.  They  were  now  to  put  Him  to  the  test,  and 
learn  by  the  result  of  the  experiment,  in  what  re- 
lation He  stood  to  them,  and  also  learn,  that  as  He 
had  manifested  Himself  as  a,  holy  God  in  his  se- 
verity, so  He  would  also  do  so  in  his  goodness,  and 
the  abundance  o'  the  blessings  c(nferred  upon 
those  who  keep  h  s  commandments. 

If  I  will  not  open  the  windows  of  heaven 


CHAPTERS  III.   13-IV.  6. 


2A 


This  is  to  be  regarded  as  an  indirect  question, 
whether  I  will  not.  Operi  the  ivindou-s.  We  read 
of  the  windows  of  heaven  in  Gen.  vii.  11,2  Kings 
rii.  2.  The  cojkous  blessing  is  here  eompiared  to 
rain  coming  down  from  heaven. 

And  pour  out  upon  you  a  blessing  till  there 

is  not  sufficiency  of  room.  The  word  "'T  means, 
siijficiencij,  and  room  is  to  be  understood,  as  in 
Zech.  x.'lO:  "and  place  shall  not  be  found  for 
them,"  where  place   is   to   be   supplied,   as   here 

room.  "^2  negatives  the  idea  of  the  noan  as  in 
Is.  v.  14.  The  interpretation,  ybreyer,  adopted  by 
Wordsworth  :  "  Till  there  be  not  enough,  till  my 
abundance  is  exhausted  ;  and  since  this  can  never 
be,  therefore  it  means,  forever,"  is  strained  and 
unnatural.  The  Septuagint  has  translated  it : 
"  Until  there  should  be  enough." 

Ver.  11.  And  I  will  rebuke  the  devourer. 
This  verse  describes  in  detail  what  blessings  Jeho- 
vah's coming  will  bring  with  it.  Jehovah  will  take 
away  everything  which  would  injure  the  fruits. 
The  devourer,  that  is,  the  locust,  shall  no  more 
ravage  the  land.  The  corn  and  wine  shall  flour- 
ish.  The  grapes  shall  not  fall  before  they  ripen. 

Ver.  12.  And  aU  nations  shall  call  you 
blessed.  The  consequence  of  Jehovah's  blessing 
will  be,  that  the  land  will  be  an  object  of  pleasure 
to  every  one.  We  find  similar  language  in  Zech. 
viii.  13  :  "  As  ye  were  a  curse  among  the  heathen, 
•o  shall  ye  be  a  blessing." 


DOCTRINAL  AND    PRACTICAL. 

From  Matt.  Henry  :  On  Return  unto  me  (ver. 
7).  What  a  gracious  invitation  God  gives  them 
to  return  and  repent !  Return  unto  me,  and  to 
your  duty,  return  to  your  service,  return  to  your 
allegiance,  return  as  a  traveller  that  has  missed 
his  way,  as  a  soldier  that  has  run  from  his  colors, 
as  a  treacherous  wife  that  has  gone  away  from  her 
husband ;  return,  thou  backsliding  Israel,  return 
to  me;  and  then  I  will  return  unto  you,  and  be 
reconciled,  will  remove  the  judgments  j^ou  are  un- 
der and  prevent  those  you  fear.  What  a  peevish 
answer  they  return  to  this  gracious  invitation  ! 
Wherein  shall  we  return.  Note  :  God  takes  notice 
what  returns  our  hearts  make  to  the  calls  of  his 
Word,  what  we  say,  and  what  we  think  when  we 
have  heard  a  sermon  ;  what  answer  we  give  to  the 
message  sent  us.  When  God  calls  us  to  return  we 
should  answer,  as  they  did  (Jer.  iii.  22)  :  Behold, 
we  come,  but  not  as  these  here.  Wherein  shall  we 
return  ?  They  take  it  as  an  affront  to  be  told  of 
their  faults,  and  called  upon  to  amend  them  ;  they 
are  ready  to  say,  What  ado  do  these  prophets 
nske  about  returning  and  repenting.     They  are  so 


ignorant  of  themselves,  ana  of  the  strictness,  ex 
tent,  and  spiritual  nature  of  the  divine  law,  tha 
they  see  nothing  in  themselves  to  be  repented  of; 
they  are  pure  in  their  own  eyes,  and  think  they 
need  no  repentance.  Many  ruin  their  souls  by 
bafliliug  the  calls  to  repentance. 


HOxMILETICVL. 

Pressel  :  On  ver.  10.  Prove  me  now  herewith. 
The  condescending  goodness  of  God  gives  not  only 
to  the  godly,  but  sometimes  even  to  the  ungodly, 
opportunity  and  even  a  challenge  to  prove  his  truth 
and  almightiness  ;  and  it  is  the  duty  of  a  minister 
of  God  now,  as  it  was  then  of  the  Prophet  Malachi, 
not  only  to  point  both  classes  to  it,  but  even  to 
offer  to  them  this  proving  of  God,  confident  as  Eli- 
jah was  against  Ahab,  .and  as  Isaiah  was  against 
Ahaz,  that  God  will  not  forsake  his  servants,  but 
will  by  the  event  put  to  sharae  all  unbelief. 

On  ver.  13.  We  are  very  apt  to  complain  of 
God's  providences,  when  extraordinary  afflictions 
and  troubles  put  men  out  of  patience,  or  when  we 
read  or  hear  of  extraordinary  accidents,  but  where 
a  heart  stands  firm  in  the  fear  and  love  of  God, 
what  the  Apostle  John  says  :  "  His  seed  remaineth 
in  him,  and  he  cannot  sin,"  is  true  of  it. 

On  vers.  10-12.  How  much  depends  upon  our 
giving  ourselves  wholly  as  an  offering  to  the  Lord ! 
The  offerings  which  the  Lord  now  requires  are  our 
own  hearts,  and  all  that  comes  from  them.  But  if 
the  Lord  was  so  strict  in  tithes,  how  much  more 
so  is  Hh  with  our  hearts  !  Dost  thou  wish  the  full 
blessing  of  God,  then  be  exact  in  whatever  is  thy 
duty.  What  is  our  duty  1  Whatever  God  re- 
quires of  us,  whether  great  or  little,  whether  his 
service  or  an  every-day  life.  How  can  he  who  is 
not  strict  in  his  duty  hope,  or  even  pray  for  the 
full  blessing  of  God  ? 

On  vers.  14,  15.  The  vain  service  of  God,  He 
serves  God  in  vain  who  serves  Him  only  outward- 
ly. He  who  serves  Him  from  the  heart  has  never 
served  Him  in  vain.  God  is  not  man.  It  some- 
times is  the  case  with  men  that  an  outward  ser- 
vice only  receives  an  unmerited  reward,  or  that  he 
who  serves  another  from  the  heart  does  not  re- 
ceive his  due  reward,  for  men  can  be  deceived ;  but 
this  can  never  be  the  case  with  God,  for  He  is  om- 
niscient and  faithful.  All  things  are  under  God's 
providence.  The  contrary  seems  to  be  the  case  in 
the  history  of  the  world  and  in  daily  experience, 
and  men  without  conscience  lose  thereby  their 
faith  ;  but  this  is  only  so  in  appearance,  for  tha 
inward  testimony  of  the  heart  and  eternity  will 
make  plain  the  most  difficult  and  frowning  provi- 
dences, and  sometimes  in  this  world,  God's  holy 
and  righteous  government  is  clearly  manifested. 


SECTION  VI. 


T%e  Coming  of  a  Day  of  Judgment  which  will  mndicate  the  Ways  of  God,  and  reward 
the  Righteous  and  punish  the  Wicked.     Elijah  the  Prophet. 

Chapters  III.   13-IV.  6. 

V3       Your  words  have  been  stout  [bold]  against  me,  saith  the  Lord.     Yet  ye  say, 
14  What  have  we  spoken  so  much  against  thee  ?     Ye  have  said,  It  is     iin  to  serve 


i4  MALACHl. 

God :  and  wliat  profit  is  it  that  we  have  kept  his  ordinance,  and    that  we  hav« 
walked  mournfully   [gloomily]  before  [because  of  Jehovah]  the  Lord  of  Hosts  ? 

15  And  no\>  ^  we  call  the  proud  happy  ;  yea  they  that  work  wickedness  are  set  up ; 

16  yea,^  t/iei/  that  tempt  God  are  even  delivered.  Then  they  that  feared  the  Lord 
spake  often  ^  [uothmg  corresponding  to  often  in  Hebrew]  One  to  another  ;  and  the  Lord  heark- 
ened, and  heard  it,  and  a  book  of  remembrance*  was  written  before  him  for  them 

17  that  feared  the  Loi-d,  and  that  thought  upon  his  name.  And  they  shall  be  mine, 
saith  the  Lord  of  Hosts,  in  that  day  when  I  make  up  my  jewels  ^  \_or  possession]  ; 

18  and  I  will  spare  them,  as  a  man  spareth  his  own  son  that  serveth  him.  Then 
shall  ye  return  ®  [again],  and  discern  between  the  righteous  and  the  wicked,  between 
him  that  serveth  God  and  him  that  serveth  him  not. 

Chapter  IV.  1-6. 

1  For,  behold,  the  day  cometh,  that  shall  burn  as  an  oven  ;  and  all  the  proud,  yea, 
and  all  [piurai  in  Lxx.,  Targum,  and  eighty  Mss.]  that  do  wickedly  shall  be  stubble  :  and 
the  day  that  cometh  shall  burn  them  up,  saith  the  Lord  of  Hosts,  that  it  shall  leave 

2  them  neither  root  nor  branch.  But  unto  you  that  fear  my  name  shall  the  Sun 
[fern,  as  in  Gen.  xv.  17 ;  Jer.  xv.  9 ;  Nah.  iu.  17]  of  righteousness  arise  with  healing  in  his 
wings ;  and  ye  shall  go  forth,  and  grow  up '  [leap  for  joy]  as  calves  of  the  stall. 

3  And  ye  shall  tread  down  the  wicked  ;  for  they  shall  be  ashes  under  the   soles  of 

4  your  feet  in  the  day  that  I  shall  do  this,  saith  the  Lord  of  Hosts.  Remember  ye 
the  law  of  Moses  my  servant,  which  I  commanded  unto  him  in  Horeb  for  all  Is- 

5  rael,  with  [strike  out:  with^  the  [as]  statutes  and  judgments  [precepts].  Behold, 
I  will  send  you  Elijah  the  prophet  *  before  the  coming  of  the  great  and  dreadful  day 

6  of  the  Lord :  And  he  shall  turn  the  heart  of  the  fathers  to  [b^,  to  or  together 
with]  the  children  [sons],  and  the  heart  of  the  children  to  tlieir  fathers,  lest  I 
come  and  smite  the  earth  with  a  curse. 

TEXTUAL  AND  GRAMMATICAL. 

1  Ver.  15.  —  rmy,  a  particle  of  inference,  chaps,  i.  9,  ii.  1.     (Ewald,  353.) 

2  Ver.  15.  —  The  second  DS    marks  a  climax.     Nordh.  1096. 

8  Ver.  16.  —  Spake  often.     The  same  word  is  used  in  ver.  13,  and  translated,  spoken.     The  word  ^fUn  is  not  in  tha 
Ebbrew. 

4  Ver.  16.  —  Remembrance    (^T13T),  found  in  Ex.  xxviii.  29;  Num.  x.  10. 
6  Ver.  17.  —  n  vDD,  jewels  (Ex.  xix.  6  ;  Deut.  vU.  6 ;  xxvi.  18). 

6  Ver.  18.  —  Return,   i^tZ/',   is  used  here  as  in  i.  4,  as  an  adverb,  again  (Gen.  xiv.  2). 

7  Chap.  iv.  2.  —  Grow  up.     DriK^Q,   frisk.  LXX. :  a-Kiprav  (Hab.  i.  8). 

8  Ver.  5.  —  LXX.  :  'HKiav  tov  dea-pnifv.     The  Masora  directs  that  this  verse  shotild  be  repeated  after  the  last  Ten*, 
10  that  the  book  may  not  end  with  a  curse. 

that  it  was  profitless  to  serve  God,  since  He  was 
not  a  rip:hteous  God,  and  that  therefore  they  are  to 
be  called  happy  who  sought  to  secure  their  earth- 
ly well-being,  without  regard  to  God.  Such  hard 
speeches  of  ungodly  sinners  against  God  nevei 
pass  the  lips  of  a  pious  Asaph  or  Job,  not  even  in 
the  times  of  sorest  trial,  and  in  hours  of  the  deep- 
est darkness.  They,  though  uttering  despairing 
feeling,  never  draw  such  conclusions,  nor  go  so 
far  as  to  renounce  God.  Some  have  found  the 
atheism  of  these  sinners  in  the  phrase  serve  God, 
instead  of  serve  Jehovah. 

Ver.  14.  "We  have  kept  his  ordinance.  We 
have  observed  all  the  prescribed  rites.  Walked 
mournfiilly,  to  go  about  in  sackcloth,  to  neglect 
their  apjiearance  in  token  of  fasting,  and  for  the 
sake  of  Jehovah.  They  lay  stress  upon  fasting, 
whether  prescribed  or  voluntary,  which  was  re- 
garded as  more  meritorious.  They  attributed 
worth  to  the  opus  operatum  of  fasting,  a  disposi- 
tion attacked  by  Isaiah  in  chap.  Iviii.,  which  in* 
creased  after  the  Captivity,  until  it  culminated  in 
the  fasting  twice  in   the  week  of  the  Pharisees. 


EXEGETICAL  AND    CRITICAL. 

Ver.  13.  Your  words  have  been  bold  against 
me.  Jehovah  through  the  Prophet,  now  shows 
the  people  that  their  murmuring  against  Him  and 
his  service  as  unprofitable  is  unjust.  Hengsten- 
berg  and  Reinke  suppose  that  there  is  a  dialogue 
oetween  the  Prophet  and  the  people,  that  they  I'e- 
ply  to  the  Prophet's  words,  and  contradict  them. 
'ebovah  has  said,  Prove  me  now  herewith  ?  They 
■«ply.  The  wicked  prove  God,  and  are  delivered- 
The  Prophet  says  :  They  shall  call  you  happy. 
They  answer :  And  now  we  call  the  wicked  happy. 
The  Prophet  says  :  Ye  have  not  observed  mine 
ordinances.  The  people  reply :  We  have  ob- 
Berved  them.  But  as  this  view  is  too  ingenious, 
and  the  Ni])hal  is  used.  They  spake  one  to  another, 
they  conversed  about  (jod,  and  as  it  is  analogous 
to  ii.  17,  Ye  have  wearied  me  with  your  words,  we 
IPust  reject  it. 

Four  words  are  stout,  that  is,  bold,  pretump- 
uoiu,  irrip'id'-nt.     We  have  the  substance  of  them. 


CHAPTERS  III.  13-IV.  6. 


2b 


They  felt  that   they  had  claims   upon  God,  and 
complained  that  He  did  not  reward  them  for  it. 

Ver.  15.  And  now  we  call  the  proud  happy. 
In  consequei.ce  of  the  supposed  uselessness  of  their 
piety,  and  the  adversity  in  which  Jehovah  suffered 
them  to  remain,  they,  unlike  Asaph,  offend  against 
the  generation  of  God's  children  by  speaking  thus, 
and  begin  to  call  the  haughty  sinners  happy,  as 
those  who  have  chosen  the  best  part.  We  must 
again  regard  the  proud  here  as  in  chap.  ii.  17,  as 
godless  sinners  in  Israel.  They  must  be  the  same 
with  the  proud  in  chap.  iv.  1,  which  Hengstenberg 
admits  refers  to  sinners  in  Zion,  though  here  he 
refers  it  to  the  heathen.  The  heathen  are  spoken 
of  as  the  objects  of  the  divine  punishment,  only 
when  they  have  harmed  God's  people,  and  never 
where  the  sins  of  his  people  are  rebuked.  The 
people  now  give  the  reason  why  they  considered 
the  haughty  sinners  happy.  They  appeal  to  the 
matter  of  fact,  that,  though  the  wicked  have  put 
God  to  the  test  by  their  sins,  calling  down  the  ven- 
geance of  heaven,  yet  they  have  been  unpunished, 
and  their  condition  is  therefore  to  be  envied.  The 
two  clauses  correspond  to  each  other,  and  are 
placed  in  a  reciprocal  relation  to  each  other  by  the 

double  yea  (D5)' 

Ver.  16.  Then  they  that  feared  the  Xiord 
spake  one  to  another.  The  prophet  now  in  a 
narrative  form  gives  the  speeches  of  the  godly  in 
contrast  with  the  hard  speeches  of  the  ungodly. 
There  were  a  faithful  few  who  feared  God  with  a 
holy  fear,  and  who  valued  his  name,  who,  notwith- 
standing all  appearances  to  the  contrary,  believed 
that  verily  theke  was  a  God  judging  the  earth. 
The  language  of  the  ungodly  was  the  occasion  of 
their  speaking  together,  not,  ojlen,  as  in  our  ver- 
sion. It  was  then  (fS)  they  testified  their  faith  in 
God.  We  need  not  adopt  the  view  of  Maurer  and 
Hitzig,  that  vav.  conv.  is  to  be  translated  that,  and 
begins  the  quotation  of  their  very  words,  for  this 
is  contrary  to  usage.  We  have  not  the  substance 
of  their  conversation.  Jerome  imagines  that  it 
was  a  defense  of  God's  dealings,  which  is  doubt- 
less correct.  They  sighed  and  cried  for  the  abom- 
inations of  the  times  (Ezekiel  ix.  4).  Horror  took 
hold  of  them  because  of  the  wicked  who  forsook 
God's  law,  and  they  exhorted  one  another  daily 
not  to  lose  their  faith  in  God,  as  holy  and  right- 
eous. Their  conduct  and  words  pleased  God,  and 
to  show  the  certainty  of  their  reward  He  is  repre- 
sented as  recording  their  names  and  good  deeds  in 
a  book  of  remembrance,  lest  He  should  forget  to 
reward  them.  Some  have  found  an  allusion  to 
the  custom  of  ancient  kings  keeping  books,  in 
which  all  the  most  important  events  of  their  reigns 
were  recorded,  as  in  Esther  vi.  1,  2,  but  it  rests 
upon  a  much  older  and  Scriptural  idea,  that  the 
names  and  actions  of  the  righteous  are  written  in 
a  book  before  God  (Ps.  Ivi.  9;  Dan.  vii.  10).  The 
Pirke  Avoth,  a  collection  of  the  sayings  of  the 
Rabbis,  quotes  this  passage,  and  the  comment  of 
Rabbi  Chanina  ben  Teradjon  :  "  Where  two  sit 
together,  and  there  are  no  words  of  the  law 
spoken  between  them,  there  is  the  seat  of  the 
Bcorner  of  whom  it  is  said,  '  He  sitteth  not  in  the 
seat  of  the  scorner ; '  but  where  two  sit  together, 
and  words  of  the  law  are  spoken  between  them, 
there  dwells  the  Shekinah  among  them,  as  it  is 
written,  '  Then  they  that  feared  the  Lord  spake 
often  one  to  another.'  " 

Ver.  17.  And  they  shall  be  mine,  etc.  We 
ind  the  additional  promise,  They  shall  be  to  me  a 


peculiar  treasure,  not  jewels,  specifically,  as  in  onj 
version.  The  accents  make  '^'t^P  (possession), 
the  object  of  make,  but  most  of  the  recent  com- 
mentators, following  the  LXX.,  the  Targum,  and 
Jerome,  regard  it  as  the  predicate  of,  Thet/  shall  b« 
to  me.  They  shall  be  my  possession  in  the  day  which 
[  make,  or  appoint.  In  favor  of  this,  we  find  th< 
same  words  in  Ex.  xix.  5,  to  which  this  verse 
doubtless  refers.  "  Yq  shall  be  to  me  a  peculiar 
possession  out  of  all  nations,"  and  also  in  Deut. 
vii.  6 :  "  The  Lord,  thy  God,  hath  chosen  thee  to 
be  to  Him  a  people  of  possession."  Further,  in  ch. 
iv.  3,  we  find  the  same  phrase  as  here,  the  day  I 
make,  or  appoint.  In  the  New  Testament,  this 
language  is  borrowed  from  the  LXX.  to  represent 
the  relation  of  believers  to  God,  as  in  1  Pet.  ii.  9 ; 
Eph.  i.  14  ;  2  Thess.  ii.  14  ;  Titus  ii.  14,  where  we 
find  a  peculiar  people,  where  the  same  word,  irepl 
Troirjffiv,  is  used,  as  in  the  Septuagint  translation 
of  this  passage. 

I  will  spare  them  —  manifest  tender  compas- 
sion to  them,  as  a  man  spareth  not  his  son  merely, 
but  his  son,  who  serveth  him,  who  is  filial  and 
obedient.  "  As  a  father  pitieth  his  children,  so  the 
Lord  pitieth  them  that  fear  Him  "  (Ps.  ciii.  13). 

Ver.  18.  Then  shall  ye  again  discern  be- 
tween. The  subject  of  the  verb  must  be  tha 
wicked  murmurers,  and  not,  as  Henderson  thinks, 
the  righteous.  The  wicked  had  arraigned  God's 
'ustice,  now  they  shall  be  forced  to  acknowledge 
it  in  their  own  punishment.  The  word  ^r\^  ia 
Hebrew  is  sometimes  used  as  an  adverb.  It  is  s« 
regarded  here  by  Kohler,  Keil,  Gesenius,  Hender- 
son, and  others.  Hengstenberg  and  Keil  find  in 
ver.  18  a  reference  to  Ex.  xi.  7,  where  it  is  said: 
"  The  Lord  put  a  difference  between  the  Egyp- 
tians and  Israel."  Kohler  understands  by  it,  that 
the  wicked  would  now  stand  in  a  different  rela- 
tion to  the  question  than  they  did  before,  that 
they  would,  in  the  future,  in  consequence  of  Jeho- 
vah's judgments,  recognize  that  difference.  Cal- 
vin understands  it,  "  if  a  different  state  of  things." 
We  are  not  to  put  too  much  emphasis  upon  it, 
nor  need  we  refer  it  to  any  special  case.  The 
preposition  between,  seems  to  be  used  here  as  a 
noun,  though  not  strictly  such,  in  the  sense  of 
difference.  The  time  will  come,  when  ye  will  see 
the  between  in  relation  to  the  righteous  and  the 
wicked,  as  in  Is.  Ixv.  13,  14  :  "Behold,  my  ser- 
vants shall  eat,  but  ye  shall  be  hungry.  My  ser- 
vants shall  sing  for  joy  of  heart,  but  ye  shall 
howl  for  vexation  of  spirit." 

Ch.  iv.  1 .  For,  behold,  the  day  eometh.  In 
Hebrew,  there  are  but  three  chapters  in  Malachi, 
the  third  chapter  containing  twenty-four  verses, 
instead  of  eighteen,  as  in  our  version.  Most  of 
the  modern  versions  begin  unnecessarily  here  a 
new  chapter.  The  prophet  now  describes  the  re- 
sults of  that  appointed  day,  first  to  the  wicked 
(ver.  19),  and  then  to  the  righteous,  in  vers.  20,  ai. 

Behold,  the  day  eometh !  We  find  similar  lan- 
guage in  Zeph.  i.  15  :  "  That  day  is  a  day  o/urrath. 
Dies  Irce,  Dies  Ilia,  and  in  Joel  ii.  31 ,  where  we  find 
"  the  great  and  terrible  day  of  the  Lord."  Some  have 
referred  the  day  here  spoken  of  to  the  destruction 
of  Jerusalem,  others  to  the  last  great  day.  While 
it  is  to  receive  its  fulfillment  in  the  last  day,  yet  it 
is  capable  of  more  than  one  fulfillment.  It  is  ful- 
filled in  every  coming  to  judgment.  As  Words- 
worth says:  "All  God's  judgments  are  hours, 
marked  on  the  dial-plate,  and  struck  by  the  alamra 
of  that  ^reat  day."    The  destruction  of  Jerusalen 


m 


MALACHI. 


irsB  but  the  fiery  and  blood-red  dawn  of  that  day 
of  days.  To  the  ungodly  it  will  he  like  a  furnace, 
where  the  fire  burns  most  fiercely,  and  which 
scorches  and  consumes  everything  which  comes  near 
it.  They  that  do  wickedly  will  then  be  as  the  dry 
chaflT,  which  is  utterly  consumed.  Isaiah  uses  the 
same  figure;  v.  21  ;  and  Obadiah,  i.  18  ;  Zech.  xii. 
6  ;   Matt.  iii.  12;  Luke  iii.  17. 

That  it  shall  leave,  etc.  The  "^^'iS  here  is  not 
a  relative  pronoun,  as  Maurer  and  Reinke  sup- 
pose, but  a  conjunction  ;  so  Keil,  Kohler,  and 
Ewald,  so  that  neither  root  nor  branch,  a  proverb,  to 
express  utter  destruction  ;  not  one  shall  escape. 

John  the  Baptist  made  this  verse  the  text  of  his 
exhortations  when  he  spoke  of  the  axe  laid  to  the 
root  of  the  tree,  and  the  chafF  burnt  with  un- 
quenchable fire. 

Ver.  2.  But  unto  you  that  fear  my  name 
■hall  the  Sun  of  Righteousness  arise.  Jehovah 
now  turns,  and  directly  addresses  the  righteous, 
and  promises  them  that  the  Sun  of  Righteousness 
will  rise  upon  them.  There  has  been  much  differ- 
ence of  opinion  as  to  whether  the  Sun  of  Right- 
eousness was  to  be  understood  personally  oi  Christ, 
or  whether  it  is  only  a  genitive  of  apposition  — 
the  sun,  which  is  righteousness,  or,  righteousness, 
as  a  sun.  The  Fathers,  Eusebius,  Cyril,  Theodo- 
ret,  the  early  Protestant  commentators,  and  a  ma- 
jority of  modern  ones,  refer  it  to  Christ,  while  the 
Jewish  commentators,  and  Hengstenberg,  Keil, 
Reinke,  Kohler,  refer  it  to  the  consummation  of 
salvation,  in  which  Jehovah's  righteousness  reveals 
itself  to  the  godly.  Hengstenberg  admits  that  the 
interpretation  which  refers  it  to  Christ  is  well 
founded,  though  he  does  not  find  in  it  a  distinct 
allusion  to  the  person  of  Christ.  Keil,  while  inter- 
preting it,  that  righteousness,  that  is,  salvation,  is 
regarded  as  a  sun,  yet  concedes  that  the  personal 
view  is  founded  upon  a  truth,  that  the  coming  of 
Christ  brings  righteousness.  Henderson  remarks : 
"  There  can  be  no  doubt  with  respect  to  the  ap])li- 
cation,"  and  refers  to  the  passage  where  Christ  is 
called  the  light  of  men,  the  light  of  the  world,  a 
great  light  (Is.  ix.  1),  a  light  to  the  Gentiles  (Is. 
xlix.  6),  the  true  light,  the  day-spring  from  on 
high.  Moore  remarks :  "  We  cannot  think  that 
the  prophet  here  meant  to  predict  Christ  person- 
ally, or,  indeed,  to  look  at  the  ground  of  this  right- 
eousness at  all"  We  think  it  safer,  from  the  par- 
allel passages,  from  exegetical  tradition,  and  from 
the  internal  evidence,  commending  itself  to  every 
believing  heart,  and  which  has  found  expression  in 
hymns,  and  in  the  recorded  religious  history  of 
multitudes,  to  understand  this  sublime  figure  not 
oi  an  abstract  righteousness,  but  of  a  personal 
Christ. 

Healing  in  its  wings.  The  beams  of  this  sun 
are  compared  to  the  outstretched  wings  of  a  bird, 
to  which  the}'  bear  some  resemblance.  The  figure 
is  not  to  be  carried  out  so  far  as  to  refer  to  the 
swiftness  of  a  bird,  or  to  the  protection  of  her 
young  by  the  mother  bird,  but  is  to  be  confined 
simply  to  healing.  .  .  Healing  or  salvation  comes 
to  the  God-fearing  through  the  wings,  or  beams  of 
this  sun,  shining  fully  u])on  them.  As  when  the 
sun  returns  to  the  earth  in  spring  time,  all  nature 
rejoices  in  its  light  and  warmth,  so  the  righteous 
shall  be  awaked  to  a  new  life  by  the  beams  of  this 
lun. 

And  ye  shall  go  forth,  and  leap  as  calves. 
The  righteous  shall  go  forth  from  darkness,  and 
their  jo 7  is  compared,  in   a  simnle  and  childlike 


manner,  to  that  of  calves,  let  loose,  from  the  s  all 
to  go  to  pasture,  who  fiisk  and  leap  for  joy. 

Ver.  3.  They  shall  be  ashes.  The  wicked,  who 
have  troubled  them,  shall  be  as  little  regarded  b} 
them  as  the  ashes  trodden  under  foot  of  men. 

Ver.  4.  Remember  ye  the  law  of  Moses. 
Now  follows  an  exhortation  as  to  the  way  in  which 
the  coming  judgment  is  to  be  averted.  We  have 
here  the  conclusion  of  the  whole  book,  and  the 
appropriate  sealing  up  of  the  Old  Testament. 
There  is  in  it  an  intimation,  that  no  further  commu- 
nications are  to  be  made.  As  they  had  gone  away 
from  God's  law,  now  they  must  give  all  diligence 
to  observe  and  obey  it.  The  Septuaginl,  it  is  dif 
ficult  to  see  for  what  reason,  has  transposed  this 
verse,  and  placed  it  at  the  end  of  the  book,  where 
it  is  out  of  place,  as  it  serves  as  the  introduction 
to  the  promise  of  John  the  Baptist,  and  the  refor- 
mation to  be  wrought  by  him.  Hengstenberg  and 
Reinke  suppose  the  reason  of  the  transposition  is 
to  be  found  in  the  great  importance  of  the  precept, 
but  the  more  probable  reason  is,  that  it  was  done, 
as  in  other  cases,  to  avoid  too  harsh  a  sound  in 
the  last  verse. 

Which  I  commanded  him,  not  whom  I  com- 
manded, as  Ewald,  Reinke,  and  Bunsen.  Jeho- 
vah calls  attention  to  the  divine  authority  and 
origin  of  the  law.  Moses  was  but  the  servant  of 
Jehovah. 

Statutes  and  Judgments.  These  words  arc 
found  in  the  same  combination  in  Deut.  iv.  8,  am 
may  be  construed  as  an  exegetical  definition,  be 
longing  to  which,  or  with  Kohler,  as  the  predicate 
which  are  statutes  and  judgments. 

Ver.  5.  Behold  I  will  send  Elijah  the  prophet 
We  have  here  a  repetition  of  the  promise  in  ch 
iii.  1  in  a  more  specific  form.  Behold,  I  will  sen<J 
Elijali,  not  the  Tishbite,  as  the  Septuagint  has  it, 
but  Elijah  the  prophet.  But  why  is  John  the  Bap- 
tist here  called  Elijah  ?  The  angel  before  his  birth 
said  unto  his  father,  Zacharias,  "  And  he  shall  go 
before  Him  in  the  spirit  and  power  of  Elijah." 
There  were  many  points  of  resemblance  between 
Elijah  and  John.  Both  prophesied  in  a  time  of 
great  unbelief  and  apostasy  from  the  law;  both 
sought  to  bring  back  the  people  to  the  piety  of 
their  fathers  ;  both  prophesied  before  great  and 
terrible  judgments.  The  historical  circumstances 
in  which  they  lived  were  remarkably  parallel. 
Ahab  reappears  in  Herod,  Jezebel  in  Herodias 
The  words  of  Mark  vi.  20,  where  he  speaks  of 
Herod,  fearing  John,  and  did  many  things,  apply 
without  any  alteration  to  Ahab.  Their  very  ap- 
pearance, the  fashion  of  their  dress,  and  their 
mode  of  life,  were  identical.  Bengel  says  of  John 
"  Even  the  dress  and  food  of  John  were  in  accord- 
ance with  his  teaching  and  office.  The  minister 
of  repentance  led  the  same  life  as  penitents  them- 
selves should  lead."  His  mode  of  life  was  a  ser- 
mon de  facto  on  mortification.  We  may  hus 
clearly  see  why  John  should  be  called  in  proph- 
ecy, which,  for  the  most  part,  suppresses  names, 
and  which  throws  a  thin  veil  of  obscurity  over  its 
subjects,  Elijah,  just  as  Jesus  himself  was  called 
David,  because  he  was  the  son  and  successor  of 
David  (Hosea  iii.  5;  Ez.  xxxiv.  23;  xxxvii.  24; 
Jer.  XXX.  9).  The  interpretation  of  this  prophecy, 
that  Elijah  was  to  reappear  before  the  coming  of 
the  Messiah,  has  been  univtrsally  held  by  the 
Jews,  and  the  obstinacy  with  which  they  have 
clung  to  this  opinion,  received  by  tradition  from 
their  fathers,  has  been  a  great  hindrance  to  thei/ 
receiving  Jesus  as  the  Christ.  In  this  interprjta 
tion,  they  have  been  countenanced  by  most  i'i  tfat 


CHAl^TERS    III.   1.3-IV.  6. 


27 


Fathers,  as  Chrvsostom,  Orig-en,  Cyril,  Theodoret, 
Theophylact,  Jerome,  Tertullian,  Au<;ustine,  who 
held  to  two  Elijahs  of  pro[)htcy,  the  one,  John 
the  Baptist,  and  the  other,  Klijnh  in  person,  who 
was  to  reappear,  to  convert  tlie  Jews,  and  pre))are 
the  way  for  the  second  cominji  of  the  Lord.  The 
Romish  commentators,  iti  consequen  :e  of  this  con- 
sent of  the  Fathers,  have  held  it  a  heresy,  or  next 
to  a  heresv,  to  reject  this  interpretation.  Some 
few  modern  Protestant  commentators,  as  Hitzij^, 
Maurer,  Ewald,  Olshaiisen,  Alford,  Stier,  and 
Ryle,  have  adopted  the  same  riew.  Alford  says  : 
"John  the  Ba])tist  only  part/«//(/ fulfilled  the  great 
prophecy,  which  announced  the  real  Ellas  (the 
words  of  Malachi  will  hardly  bear  any  other  than 
a  personal  meaning)  who  is  to  forerun  the  second 
and  greater  coming." 

We  have  two  most  important  declarations  of 
our  Lord's  on  the  Elijah  of  Malachi.  Speaking 
of  John  the  Baptist,  he  said  :  "  This  is  he  of  whom 
it  is  written.  Behold,  I  will  send  my  messenger 
before  thy  face,  which  shall  prepare  thy  way  before 
thee.  And  if  ye  will  receive  it,  This  is  Elias,  who 
was  to  come."  Here  our  Lord  declares  that  John 
fulfilled  both  prophecies  in  Malachi,  and  that  he 
was  his  forerunner.  And  further,  that  so  obsti- 
nate were  their  foregone  conclusions,  that  He  did 
not  expect  they  would  believe  it. 

In  Matthew  xvii.  10,  "  His  disciples  asked  Him, 
saying,  Why  then  say  the  Scribes,  that  Elias  must 
first  come  ?  And  Jesus  answered  and  said  unto 
them,  "  Elias  truly  shall  first  come,  and  restore  all 
things,  but  I  say  unto  you,  that  Elias  is  come  al- 
ready, and  they  knew  him  not,  but  have  done  unto 
him  whatsoever  they  listed.  'I'hen  understood  his 
disciples,  that  He  spake  unto  them  of  John  the  Bap- 
tist." We  would  remark,  that  this  conversation 
was  soon  after  the  Transfiguration  of  our  Lord, 
when  Elijah  appeared.  Sharing  the  common  Jew- 
ish opinion,  and  supposing  his  residence  with  our 
Saviour  would  be  a  permanent  one,  they  were  per- 
plexed at  his  disappearance.  Their  question  led 
our  Lord  to  speak  of  the  prophecy  of  Malachi, 
and  to  place  Himself  at  the  time  of  its  utterance, 
when  the  coming  of  Elijah  as  John  was  yet  future. 
Hence  He  uses  the  future  in  speaking  of  John's 
agency.  Alford  infers  from  the  use  of  the  future, 
that  Elijah  is  yet  to  reappear,  but  it  can  be  easily 
explained  in  the  way  which  has  been  done. 

Again,  the  denial  of  John  (John  i.  21)  has  been 
made  use  of  by  the  few  Protestant  commentators 
who  have  held  the  view  of  another  Elijah.  John 
did  not  deny  to  the  deputation  from  the  Sanhe- 
drim, that  he  was  the  Elijah  of  Malachi.  This 
he  affirms,  when  he  says,  "  I  am  the  voice  of  one 
crying  in  the  wilderness,  Make  straight  the  way  of 
the  Lord  ;  "  but  that  he  was  Elijah  in  their  sense, 
Alford  finds  in,  If  ye  will  receive  it,  a  confirmation 
of  his  views,  but  this  expression  strengthens  the 
exclusive  refeience  to  John  the  Baptist,  that  it  was 
|0  plain,  that  nothing  but  the  most  inveterate 
prejudice  prevented  their  acknowledging  it. 

Before  the  coming  of  the  great  and  dread- 
ful day.  This  expression,  the  c/reat  and  terrible 
day,  is  found  in  Joel  ii.  31.  The  day  (ch.  iii.  17,  iv. 
1-5)  throughout  has  the  same  meaning.  It  refers 
ispecially  to  the  destruction  of  Jerusalem.  When 
)he  Lord  Jesus  came,  it  was  not  only  to  give  eter- 

1  Aben  Ezra,  at  the  close  of  his  Commentary  on  the 
Uinor  Prophets,  says:  "May  God  soon  fulfill  the  prophecy 
tt  Elgah,  and  hasten  his  coming !  "  Rather  may  we  pray 
ih»t  the  veil  may  be  taken  from  the  hearts  of  the  Jews, 
«e  that   they    may    believe  that   this    prophecy  has   be«n 


nal  life  to  those  who  received  Him,  but  for  judg- 
ment upon  those  who  rejected  Him.  His  coming 
was  necessarily  followed  by  the  condemnation  of 
the  unbelieving.  The  Gospel  is  always  a  savor  of 
life  unto  life,  or  of  death  unto  death.  But  these 
words  have  more  than  one  fulfillment.  The  'ast 
and  perfect  one  will  be  in  the  last  day. 

Ver.  6.  And  tie  shall  turn  the  heart  of  the 
fathers  to  the  children.  Some  commentators, 
among  whom  are  Ewald,  Maurer,  and  Henderson, 
understand  this  of  a  i-estoration  of  family  har- 
mony, but  it  is  better  to  understand  it  of  a  recon- 
ciliation between  the  ungodly,  estranged  from  the 
piety  of  their  ancestors,  and  their  ]>ious  forefathers, 
produced  by  repentance.  Thus  the  bond  of  union, 
which  had  been  broken,  will  be  restored.  That 
such  is  the  meaning  is  proved  by  Luke  i.  16,  17, 
where  "  the  disobedient  to  the  wisdom,  or  dispo- 
sition, of  the  just,"  is  substituted,  as  containing 
the  same  sense. 

Lest  I  come  and  smite  the  earth,  with  a 
curse.     By  the  earth  here  is  meant,  the  land  of 

Israel.  The  word,  DTICj  curse,  means  anything 
devoted  to  the  Lord,  and  is  sometimes  used  in  a 
good  sense,  as  in  Lev.  xxvii.  28.  More  generally, 
however,  in  a  bad  sense,  as  in  Zech.  xiv,  1 1 ,  where 
it  is  translated,  utter  destruction,  the  ban  of  exter- 
mination. 

The  close  of  the  Old  Testament  in  Malachi  is 
unspeakably  solemn.  On  its  last  leaf  we  find  the 
blessing  and  the  curse,  life  and  death,  set  before 
us.  As  its  first  page  tells  us  of  the  sin  and  curse 
of  our  first  parents,  so  its  last  speaks  of  the  law 
given  by  Moses,  of  sin,  and  the  curse  following, 
mingled  with  promises  of  the  grace  which  was  to 
come  by  Jesus  Christ.  So  on  the  last  page  of  tha 
New  Testament,  we  read  of  "  plagues  written  in 
this  book,"  but  its  last  words  are  gracious  words : 
"  Surely  I  come  quickly  !  Amen.  Even  so.  Come, 
Lord  Jesus  !  The  grace  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ 
be  with  you  all !    Amen."  ^ 


DOCTRINAL  AND  PRACTICAL. 

Wordsworth  :  "  The  concluding  sentence  of 
Malachi  is  a  solemn  warning  to  these  latter  days. 
The  Holy  Spirit  knows  what  is  best  for  us.  He 
warns  us  of  future  punishment,  in  order  that  we 
may  escape  it,  and  that  we  may  inherit  everlasting 
glory.  Knowing  the  terror  of  the  Lord,  he  would 
persuade  men.  And  the  character  of  these  latter 
days,  when  the  Evil  One  is  endeavoring  to  lure 
men  into  his  own  grasp,  and  to  make  them  his  vic- 
tims forever,  by  dissolving  God's  attributes  into 
one  universal  fullness  of  undiscriminating  love ; 
and  by  endeavoring  to  persuade  them  that  his  jus- 
tice and  holiness  are  mere  ideal  theories  and  vision- 
ary phantoms,  and  that  there  is  no  judgment  to 
come,  and  that  the  terrors  of  hell  are  but  a  dream, 
in  defiance  of  the  clear  words  of  Him  who  is  the 
Truth  (Mark  ix.  44  ;  Matt.  xxv.  46),  shows  that 
there  is  divine  foresight  in  this  warning  by  Mal- 
achi. Let  it  not  be  forgotten  that  the  Apostle  of 
love,  St.  John,  ends  his  Epistle  with  a  warning 
against  idolatry,  and  that  at  the  close  of  the  Apoc- 
alypse, there  is  a  solemn  declaration  against  all 
who  tamper  with  any  words  of  that  book,  which 

fulfilled,  that  £liaa  has  already  come,  and  that  they  may 
with  us  unite  in  the  prayer,  which  every  believing  and 
loving  soul  continaally  piays :  Come,  Lord  Jesus !  Comi 
quickly  ! 


■lb 


MALACHI. 


is  in  the  clearest  terms  coneeniiii;.'' judgment, 
heaven,  hell,  and  eternity.  M;iy  we  Imve  <:r;ice  so 
to  profit  l)V  this  solemn  warniiii;,  tiiat  we  may  es- 
cape the  nialedietion  of  those  on  the  left  hand  at 
the  great  day,  and  inlierit  the  hlessing  which  will 
be  pronounced  to  those  on  the  right  hand  hy  the 
almiglity  and  everlasting  Judge !  Now  unto  the 
King  Eternal,  immortal,  invisihle,  the  only  wise 
God,  he  honor  and  glory  forever  and  ever.   Amen  ! 

Keil:  After  Malachi,  no  pi-ophet  arose  in  Is- 
rael until  the  time  was  fultilled,  when  the  Elijah 
predicted  hy  him  appeared  in  John  the  Baptist, 
and  immediately  afterwards  the  Lord  came  to  his 
temple,  that  is  to  say,  the  incarnate  Son  of  God  to 
his  own  possession,  to  make  all  who  receive  Him 
children  of  God.  Upon  the  Mount  of  Transfigura- 
tion, there  appeared  both  Moses,  the  founder  of 
the  Law,  and  mediator  of  the  Old  Covenant,  and 
Elijah  the  prophet,  as  the  restorer  of  the  law  in 
Israel,  who  earnestly  prayed,  "  Hear  me,  O  Lord, 
hear  me,  that  this  people  may  know  that  thou  hast 
turned  their  heart  back  again  !  "  to  talk  with  Jesus 
of  his  decease,  for  a  practical  testimony  to  us  all, 
that  Jesus  Christ,  who  laid  down  his  life  for  us,  to 
bear  our  sin,  and  redeem  us  from  the  curse  of  the 
law,  was  the  beloved  Son  of  the  Father,  whom  we 
are  to  hear,  that  hy  believing  in  his  name  we  may 
become  children  of  God,  and  heirs  of  everlasting 
life. 

M.  Henry  on  Malachi  iii.  14 :  Walked  mourn- 
fullu.  They  insisted  much  upon  it,  that  they  had 
walked  mournfullij  before  God,  whereas  God  had 
required  them  to  serve  Him  with  gladness  and  to 
Walk  cheerfully  liefore  Him.  They  by  their  own 
superstitions  made  the  service  of  God  a  task  and 
drudgery  to  themselves,  and  then  complained  of  it 
AS  a  hard  service.  The  yoke  of  Christ  is  easy  ;  it 
b  the  yoke  of  Antichrist  that  is  h^avy.  They  com- 
plained that  they  had  got  nothing  by  their  religion  ; 
they  denied  a  "future  state,  and  then  said :  It  is 
vain  to  serve  God,  which  has  indeed  some  color  in 
It,  for  if  in  this  life  only  we  had  hope  in  Christ,  we 
were  of  all  men  most  miserable. 

Note.  —  Those  do  a  great  deal  of  wrong  to 
God's  honor,  who  say  that  religion  is  either  an 
unprofitable  or  an  unpleasant  thing  ;  for  the  matter 
is  not  so  ;  wisdom's  ways  are  pleasantness,  and 
wisdom's  gains  are  better  than  that  of  fine  gold. 

M.  Henry  on  ver.  16.  They  spake  often,  etc. 
Even  in  that  corrupt  and  degenerate  age,  there 
were  some  that  retained  their  integrity  and  zeal 
for  God.  In  every  age,  there  has  been  a  remnant 
that  feared  the  Lord,  though  sometimes  but  a  little 
remnant.  They  thonfjht  upon  his  name;  they  seri- 
ously considered,  and  frequently  meditated  upon 
the  discoveries  God  had  made  of  Himself,  and 
their  meditation  of  Him  was  sweet.  They  con- 
sulted the  honor  of  God,  and  aimed  at  that  as 
their  ultimate  end  in  all  they  did.  They  spake 
often  one  to  another  concerning  the  God  they 
feared,  and  that  name  of  his,  which  they  thought 
80  much  of;  for  out  of  the  abundance  of  the  heart 
the  mouth  will  speak  ;  and  a  good  man  out  of  the 
good  treasure  of  his  heart  will  bring  forth  good 
things.  They  that  feared  the  Lord  kept  together  as 
those  that  were  company  for  each  other ;  they  spake 
kindly  and  endearingly  one  to  another,  for  the 
preserving  and  promoting  mutual  lo\e,  that  that 
Jiight  not  wax  cold  wlmn  iniiiuity  did  thus  abound. 
They  sjjake  edifyingly  to  one  another,  for  the  in- 
srcase  of  faith  and  holiness ;  they  spake  one  to 
fcnother  in  the  language  of  Canaan  ;  when  pro- 
Eaneness  was  to  come  to  so  great  a  height  as  to 
trample  upon  all  that  is  sacred,  then  they  spake 


often  one  to  another.  The  worse  others  are,  the  bette* 
we  should  he  ;  when  vice  is  daring,  let  nU  vxrtue  bt 
sneaking.  They  were  industrious  to  arm  them- 
selves and  one  another  against  the  contagion  bj 
mutual  instructions  and  encouragements,  and  to 
strengthen  one  another  s  hands  As  evil  commu- 
nications corrupt  good  minds  and  manners,  sc 
good  communications  confirm  them. 

Moore  :  When  the  wicked  are  talking  against 
God,  the  righteous  should  talk  for  Hirn.  Religious 
conver.sation  is  necessary,  all  the  more,  for  the 
very  reasons  that  often  chill  and  repress  it.  When 
a  tire  burns  low,  the  coals  that  are  alive  should  be 
brought  near  together,  that  they  may  be  blown 
into  a  flame.  So  when  all  is  cold  and  dead,  living 
Christians  should  draw  near  and  seek  the  breath- 
ings of  the  Spirit,  and  kindle  each  other  by  mu- 
tual utterance.  The  words  thus  and  then  spoken 
shall  be  heard  and  recorded  in  heaven. 

Doddridge  has  versified  vers.  16,  17  :  — 

The  Lord  on  mortal  worms  looks  dowa 

From  his  celestial  throne  ; 
And  when  the  wicked  swarm  around, 

He  well  discerns  his  own. 

The  chronicles  of  heaven  shall  keep 

Their  words  in  transcript  fair  ; 
In  the  Redeemer's  book  of  life, 

Their  names  recorded  are. 

W0KD8WORTH  :  Malachi,  as  successor  to  Zecn- 
ariah,  discharged  a  peculiar  office.  Zechariah  is 
one  of  the  most  sublime  and  impassioned  among 
"  the  goodly  fellowship  "  of  the  Prophets.  The 
light  of  the  sunset  of  prophecy  is  as  brilliant  and 
glorious  as  its  noonday  splendors.  The  prophecy 
of  Zechariah  is  an  impetuous  torrent,  sweeping 
along  in  a  violent  stream,  dashing  over  rugged 
rocks,  and  hurling  itself  down  in  headlong  cata- 
racts, and  carrying  every-tnmg  with  it  in  its  foam- 
ing flood.  In  Malachi,  it  tempers  its  vehemence 
in  the  clear  haven  of  a  translucent  pool ;  there  it 
rested  in  peace  for  four  hundred  years,  till  it 
flowed  forth  again  in  the  Gospel. 

M.  Henry,  on  ch.  iv.  ver.  4  :  Observe  the  hon- 
orable mention  that  is  made  of  Moses  the  first 
writer  of  the  Old  Testament,  in  Malachi,  the  last 
writer.  God  calls  him  Moses,  my  servant,  for  the 
righteous  shall  be  had  in  everlasting  remembrance. 
See  how  the  penmen  of  Scripture,  though  they 
lived  at  a  great  distance  of  time  from  each  other 
(it  was  twelve  hundred  years  from  Moses  to  Mal- 
achi) concurred  in  the  same  thing,  all  actuated 
and  guided  by  one  and  the  same  spirit. 

Pressel  :  We  meet  sometimes  in  the  Old  Tes- 
tament with  passages,  like  flowers  among  the 
rocks,  which  anticipate  the  New  Testament.  Of 
this  kind  are  the  few  passages  in  which  God  is  re- 
garded not  as  Lord  but  as  Father  (Ueut.  xxxii. 
6;  2  Sam.  vii.  14;  Ps.  Ixxxix.  27,  ciii.  13;  Is. 
Ixiii.  16;  Jer.  xxxi.  20  ;  Hos.  i.  10;  Mai.  iii.  17). 
God  appears  in  them  indeed  more  as  the  Father  of 
the  whole  nation,  than  in  a  personal  relation  to 
individuals.  The  joyfulness  o^  the  sonship  of  in- 
dividuals does  not  attain  promiii/nce,  and  it  was  not 
the  prevailing  consciousness  of  the  whole  people ; 
but  these  few  traces  of  the  fatherhood  of  God  dis- 
close the  continuity  of  both  Testaments.  The  re- 
lation, which  was  not  possible  for  the  Old  Testa- 
ment Church,  the  New  Covenant  has  granted  us 
through  Jesus  Christ,  and  what  the  New  has  thu» 
granted,  the  Old  had  already  foreshadowed. 

Though  the  prophecy  of  Malachi,  of  the  coming 
of  the  Messiah,  of  the  judgment  accompanying  it, 
and  of  the   sen'ling  of  the  forerui  aer,  contafnf 


CHAPTER  III.   16-IV.  6. 


2S 


nothing  at  all  which  would  lead  us  to  suppose  that 
the  first  coming  would  find  its  fulfillment  in  a  sec- 
ond at  the  end  of  days,  before  which  time  tiiere 
should  happen  his  rejection  by  his  people,  his  re- 
deeming work  on  Golgotha,  and  the  whole  history 
of  the  spread  of  his  Gospel  even  to  the  ends  of  the 
earth,  yet  nothing  can  be  concluded  from  this 
against  the  truth,  that  this  last  prophecy  of  the 
Old  Testament  had  bfgun  tj  be  fulfilled  in  the  ap- 
pearance of  Jesus  of  Nazareth ;  for  the  occasion 
and  design  of  this  last  ]irophecy  had  nothins;  to  do 
with  the  subsequent  events ;  tor  God  reveals  to  his 
faithful  people  at  every  stage,  and  under  all  rela- 
tions, only  just  so  much  as  they  need.  The  Old  Tes- 
tament has  sufficiently  disclosed  the  most  glorious 
glimpses  into  the  Messianic  future,  as  special 
Psalms,  Isaiah,  Daniel,  Zechariah,  and  other  books 
testify,  but  here  the  object  is  only  to  enforce  on 
the  light-minded  and  scoffing  contemporaries  of 
the  prophet  the  ineffaceable  difference  between  the 
godly  and  ungodly,  and  the  certainty  of  the  day  in 
which  that  difference  would  be  revealed  to  all  eyes. 
It  was  for  this  object,  that  what  God  communicated 
to  them  through  his  prophets  of  the  coming  of  the 
Lord,  and  the  sending  of  his  Forerunner,  was  ex- 
actly what  they  needed. 

Vers.  16,  17.  Then  they  that  feared  the  Lord. 
What  is  the  frivolity  and  scorn  of  the  world,  when 
compared  with  the  refuge  of  the  pious  in  the  word 
of  God,  in  the  communion  of  those  like-minded, 
in  prayer,  and  in  a  blessed  hereafter! 

The  Lord  knoweth  them  that  are  his !  This 
Holy  Scripture  everywhere  testifies.  Does  also  the 
Spirit  of  God  testify  it  to  our  spirits  ? 

The  names  of  those  who  are  registered  in  our 
church  books  are  not  all  found  in  God's  book  of 
remembrance.  As  it  waa  a  great  privilege  to  be 
numbered  among  the  people  of  Israel,  so  it  is  one 
now  to  be  numbered  in  our  church  books  as  a 
Christian  ;  but  as  then  there  was  a  difference  be- 
tween those  whose  names  were  in  God's  book,  and 
those  who  were  not,  so  it  is  still  now. 

"  In  thy  fair  book  of  life  and  grace, 
0  may  I  find  my  name, 
Elecorded  in  some  humble  place, 
Beneath  my  Lord,  the  Lamb." 

This  is  the  highest  distinction  to  which  man  can 
attain :  all  others  are  but  a  shadow,  when  com- 
pared with  it.  It  is  a  distinction  most  undeserved, 
and  yet  promised  to  the  sincere  and  pious.  It  ex- 
cludes all  merit,  and  yet  it  is  a  reward  of  true 
piety. 

Ch.  iv.  1 .    For  behold  the  day  comes ! 

"  That  day  of  wrath  !  that  dreadful  day  ! 
When  heaven  and  earth  shall  pass  away, 
What  power  shall  be  the  sinner's  stay  ? 
How  shall  he  meet  that  dreadful  day  ?  " 

Ch.  iv.  ver.  2.  What  will  the  day  of  the  Lord 
bring  to  the  righteous,  according  to  the  promise 
of  the  Old  Testament  ?  The  Sun  of  righteous- 
ness ;  salvation  under  his  wings ;  the  joy  of  free- 
dom ;  the  triumph  over  the  common  enemies  of 
the  Lord  and  his  people. 

Ch.  iv.  vers.  4,  5.  Moses  and  Elijah  must  even 
now  go  before  the  Lord  :  How  far  have  they  come 
to  US'?  Or,  Conversion  is  the  turning  point, 
where  the  Old  Covenant  ends,  and  the  New  begins  : 
the  heart  begins,  and  the  life  must  end. 

Ver.  6.  He  shall  turn  the  hearts  of  the  fathers  to 
he  children.  How  has  the  Word  of  God  laid  upon 
ns  the  duty  of  our  conversion,  and  that  of  our  fam- 
lies !  Grant  me  the  heaveuly  joy,  that  after  many  a 


struggle,  I  may  with  rapture  say.  Dearest  Father . 
Here  am  I,  and  those  whom  thou  hast  gi>en  me! 
No  one  of  them  is  lost !  all  are  prepared  for  thy 
kingdom  !  'J'hat  this  may  be  our  experitnce,  we 
must  strive  by  persevering  prayer,  and  it  will, 
when  realized,  be  a  matter  of  heavenly  joy.  Fi- 
nally :  The  last  word  of  the  Old  Testament  is  thfl 
threatening  of  the  curse  ;  of  the  Now,  th(!  [)rayer, 
"  Even  so  come.  Lord  Jesus  !  "  What  sliould  we 
wish  our  last  word  to  be  ? 

Chkysostom  on,  Behold  the  day  cometh  !  Let 
us  then  imagine  that  that  day  has  come,  and  let 
each  one  examine  his  reflections,  and  let  him  sup- 
pose that  the  Judge  is  already  present,  and  that 
all  things  are  revealed  and  published  ;  for  we  must 
not  only  stand  there,  hut  also  be  7nade  manifest 
Would  you  not  blush  ?  would  you  not  be  beside 
yourselves  1  For  if  now,  when  the  occasion  is  not 
yet  present,  but  is  merely  supposed,  and  repre- 
sented to  the  imagination,  we  are  overwhelmed  by 
our  reflections,  what  shall  we  do,  when  that  day 
has  come,  —  when  the  whole  world  is  present,  — 
when  angels  and  archangels,  when  crowded  myr- 
iads, and  the  hurrying  to  and  fro  of  all  have  come ; 
and  we  are  caught  up  in  the  clouds,  and  the  gath- 
ering together  full  of  terror  has  come ;  when  trum- 
pet after  trumpet  shall  sound  exceeding  loud,  — 
when  all  these  have  come  ?  For  even  if  there  were 
no  hell,  what  a  punishment  to  be  thrust  out  in  the 
midst  of  such  splendor,  and  to  depart  dishonored ! 
For  if  even  now,  when  a  king  and  his  retinue 
make  a  triumphal  entry,  the  poor,  reflecting  on 
their  poverty,  receive  not  so  much  pleasure  from 
the  spectacle,  as  mortification,  that  they  are  not 
admitted  to  the  presence  of  the  king,  nor  share  his 
favor,  what  will  it  be  then  !  Or,  do  you  consider 
it  a  light  punishment  not  to  be  numbered  in  that 
company,  not  to  be  counted  worthy  of  that  un- 
speakable glory,  to  be  thrust  out  from  that  joyful 
assembly,  and  from  those  unutterable  blessings  ? 
When  too,  there  shall  be  darkness,  and  gnashing 
of  teeth,  and  everlasting  chains,  and  the  worm 
that  never  dies,  and  the  fire  that  is  never  quenched, 
and  tribulation  and  anguish,  and  tongues  parched 
like  the  rich  man's  ;  when  we  shall  beg  for  mercy, 
but  no  one  shall  hear ;  when  we  shall  groan  and 
howl  because  of  our  torments,  and  no  one  shall 
heed  ;  and  look  round  everywhere,  and  nowhere 
shall  there  be  any  to  comfort  us,  what  shall  we  say 
to  those  in  such  a  condition,  what  can  be  more 
wretched  than  their  souls !  what  more  pitiable ! 
For  if  we  enter  a  prison,  and  see  the  squalid  pris- 
oners, some  bound  and  famishing,  others  shut  up 
in  darkness,  we  weep  aloud,  we  shudder,  and  avoid 
imprisonment  there,  when  we  are  dragged  away 
by  force  into  the  very  torments  of  hell,  what  shall 
become  of  us  !  For  these  chains  are  not  of  iron, 
but  of  fire,  never  to  be  quenched  ;  nor  are  our  jail- 
ers men,  whom  it  is  often  possible  to  persuade, 
but  angels,  whom  we  dare  not  look  upon,  because 
they  are  exceedingly  enraged,  that  we  have  in- 
sulted their  Lord.  We  do  not  see  there,  as  here, 
some  bringing  money,  some  food,  others  comfort- 
ing words,  so  that  the  prisoners  obtain  some  mit- 
igation. Everything  there  is  beyond  the  reach  of 
alleviation.  Even  if  Noah,  or  Job,  or  Daniel, 
should  see  their  own  families  suffering  punish- 
ment, they  would  not  dare  to  relieve  them.  For 
natural  sympathy  is  there  extinguished.  For 
while  it  is  the  case,  that  righteous  parent*  have 
wicked  children,  and  righteous  children  wicked 
parents,  that  the  pleasure  may  there  be  unalloyed, 
and  that  those  who  enjoy  the  blessings  may  not 
lose  their  fruition  from  sympathy,  even  this  nafr 


so 


MALACHI. 


aral  affection,  I  say,  is  exlinguishec,  and  they 
share  in  their  Lonl's  indij;nation  againat  their  own 
atfspring.  For  if  common  men,  when  they  see  their 
children  wicked,  disinherit  them,  and  cnt  them 
otf  from  the  family,  much  more  shall  the  righteous 
then.  Tlierefore,  let  no  one  hope  for  good  things, 
wlio  has  done  no  good  woric,  though  he  may  have 
ten  thousand  righteous  ancestors,  "  for  every  one 
shall  receive  the  things  done  in  his  body,  accord- 
ing to  that  he  hath  done."  And  here  I  think  I 
will  make  use  of  this  fear  to  attack  the  adulterers, 
and  not  them  only,  but  all  those  who  do  any 
wrong  tiling  whatever.  Let  us  ourselves  hear 
therefore  these  things  ;  if  3  vu  have  the  fire  of  lust, 
oppose  to  it  that  fire,  and  being  extinguished,  it 
will  quickly  go  out.  If  you  are  about  to  utter 
anything  uncharitable,  reflect  on  the  gnashing  of 
teeth,  and  your  fear  will  be  a  bridle  to  you  ;  if  you 
wish  to  steal,  hear  the  Judge  commanding  and 
saying,  "  Bind  him  hand  and  foot  and  cast  him 
into  outer  darkness,"  and  you  will  in  this  way  cast 
out  your  lust ;  if  you  are  a  drunkard,  and  spend 
your  time  in  debauchery,  hear  the  rich  man  say- 
ing, "  Send  Lazarus,  that  he  may  dip  the  tip  of 
his  finger  in  water,  and  cool  my  parched  tongue," 
and  not  obtaining  his  request,  and  you  will  get 
rid  of  this  passion.  If  you  love  luxury,  consider 
the  tribulation  and  anguish  there,  and  you  will  de- 
sire it  no  more ;  if  you  are  harsh  and  cruel,  re- 
member those  virgins  who,  because  their  lamps  had 
gone  out,  were  shut  out  of  the  bridal  chamber,  and 
you  will  soon  become  kind-hearted.  Are  you  sloth- 
rul  1  Think  of  him  who  hid  the  talent,  and  you 
will  become  more  ardent  than  fire.  Does  cove- 
■ooaness  of  your  neighbor's  property  consume  you  ? 


Think  of  the  worm  that  never  dies,  and  you  will 
easily  get  rid  of  this  disease,  and  will  reform  all 
other  sins,  for  He  has  commanded  nothing  bur- 
densome or  grievous.  Why  then  do  his  command- 
ments seem  grievous  to  us  1  From  our  slothful- 
ness.  For  as  when  we  are  zealous,  even  those 
things  which  seem  intolerable  will  be  light  and 
easy,  so  when  we  are  slothful,  the  things  which 
are  tolerable  will  appear  to  us  grievous.  In  view 
of  all  this,  let  us  not  regard  those  who  live  lux- 
uriously, but  remember  their  end  ;  let  us  not  re- 
gard the  extortioners,  but  remember  their  end,  — 
here  cares  and  fears  and  anguish  of  soul,  and 
there  everlasting  chains ;  let  us  not  regard  the 
lovers  of  glory,  but  remember  what  it  begets,  — 
here  slavery  and  hypocrisy,  and  there  intolerable 
loss,  and  perpetual  burning.  For  if  we  would 
thus  reason  with  ourselves,  and  continually  oppose 
these  and  the  like  things  to  our  wicked  lusts,  we 
should  speedily  cast  out  the  love  of  the  present, 
and  kindle  the  love  of  the  future.  Let  us  now 
therefore  kindle  it,  and  burn  with  it.  For  if  the 
meditation  on  these  things,  imperfect  as  it  may 
be,  gives  such  pleasure,  think  how  much  delight  a 
perfect  realization  will  be.  Happy,  thrice  happy, 
yea,  infinitely  happy  are  those  who  enjoy  such 
blessings,  as  wretched,  thrice  wretched  are  thosp 
who  suflTer  their  opposite  !  That  we  may  not  be 
of  the  latter  class,  but  of  the  former,  let  us  choose 
virtue,  for  in  this  way  we  shall  obtain  these  future 
blessings.  God  grant  that  we  may  all  obtain 
them,  through  the  grace  and  love  of  our  Lord  Je- 
sus Christ,  to  whom  with  the  Father  and  the  Holy 
Ghost  together  be  glory,  power,  and  honor  non 
and  always,  and  for  ever  and  ever.  Amen  I 


NEW  METRICAL  TRANSLATION. 


SECTION  L 


Jehovah's  distinguishing  Love  to  Israel  (Chap.  i.  1—6). 

1  The  burden  of  the  word  of  Jehovah  to  Israel,  by  the  hand  of  Mftlachi 

2  I  have  loved  you,  saith  Jehovah, 

And  if  ye  say,  "  Wherein  hast  thou  loved  us  ?" 
Was  not  Esau  brother  to  Jacob  ?  saith  Jehovah, 
And  yet  I  loved  Jacob, 

3  And  Esau  I  hated ; 

And  made  his  mountains  a  desolation, 

And  his  inheritance  for  the  jackals  of  the  desert. 

4  Although  Edom  say,  "  We  are  ruined, 
Yet  will  we  build  again  the  ruins  ;  " 
Thus  saith  Jehovah  of  Hosts; 

They  may  build,  but  I  will  pull  down  ; 

And  men  shall  call  them,  "  The  land  of  wickedness ; 

And  the  people  against  whom  Jehovah  is  angry  forever.** 

5  And  your  eyes  shall  see  it,  and  ye  shall  say, 
Great  be  Jehovah  over  the  land  of  Israel ! 


SECTION  II.  il 


SECTION  11. 
Rebuhe  of  the  Priests  (Chap.  i.  6-ii.  9). 

6  A  son  honors  his  father, 
And  a  servant  liis  master  ; 

But  if  I  am  a  father,  where  is  mine  honor  ? 

And  if  I  am  a  master,  where  is  my  fear  ? 

Saith  Jehovah  of  Hosts  to  you,  ye  priests,  that  despise  my  namtt* 

Yet  ye  say,  "  Wherewith  have  we  despised  thy  name?" 

7  In  offering  polluted  bread  upon  mine  altar. 

And  if  ye  say,  "■  Wherewith  have  we  polluted  thee  ?  " 
In  that  ye  say,  "  The  table  of  the  Lord  is  contemptible.** 
And  if  ye  offer  the  blind  for  sacrifice, 
(Ye  say)  "There  is  nothing  evil !  " 

8  And  when  ye  offer  the  lame  and  the  sick, 
(Ye  say),  "  There  is  nothing  evil !  " 
Offer  it  then  to  thy  governor  ; 

Will  he  be  gracious  to  thee, 
Or  accept  thy  person  ? 
Saith  Jehovah  of  Hosts. 

9  And  now,  I  pray  you,  beseech  God  to  be  gracious  onto  ul 

(By  your  hand  hath  this  been  done  !) 
Will  he  show  favor, 
Saith  Jehovah  of  Hosts  ? 

10  O  that  some  one  of  you  would  even  shut  the  doors, 

That  ye  might  not  light  the  fire  upon  mine  altar  to  no  purpOM  I 
I  have  no  pleasure  in  you,  saith  Jehovah  of  Hosts, 
And  sacrifice  from  your  hand  I  wUl  not  accept. 

11  For  from  the  rising  of  the  sun  even  to  its  setting, 
My  name  shall  be  great  among  the  nations, 

And  in  every  place  shall  incense  be  offered  to  my  namey 

And  a  pure  offering  ; 

For  my  name  shall  be  great  among  the  nations. 

12  But  ye  profane  it. 

In  that  ye  say,  "  The  table  of  the  Lord  is  polluted, 
And  the  fruit  thereof,  even  its  food,  is  contemptible.** 

13  Ye  say  also,  Behold,  what  weariness ! 
And  ye  snuff  at  it, 

Saith  Jehovah  of  Hosts. 

And  ye  bring  that  which  is  stolen,  and  lame,  and  sick, 

And  present  it  for  an  offering ! 

Shall  I  accept  it  from  your  hand  ? 

Saith  Jehovah. 

14  And  cursed  be  the  deceiver, 

Who,  when  there  is  in  his  flock  a  male, 
Vows  and  sacrifices  to  Jehovah  that  which  is  blemished ) 
For  I  am  a  great  king,  saith  Jehovah  of  Hosts, 
And  my  name  is  feared  among  the  nations. 

1  And  now,  ye  priests,  this  sentence  is  to  you  I 

2  If  ye  will  not  hearken. 

If  ye  will  not  lay  it  to  heart, 

To  give  glory  to  my  name,  saith  Jehovah  of  Hoiti. 

I  wQl  send  a  curse  upon  you. 

And  I  will  curse  your  blessings ; 


P?  MALACHI. 


Yea,  I  have  cursed  them  already. 
Because  ye  do  not  lay  it  to  heart. 

3  Behold  I  will  rebuke  for  you  the  seed; 
And  I  will  spread  dung  upon  your  faces, 
The  dung  of  your  solemn  feasts, 

And  ye  shall  be  taken  away  to  it. 

4  And  ye  shall  know  that  I  have  sent  to  you  this  seatenoe, 
That  my  covenant  with  Levi  may  continue, 

5  Saith  Jehovah  of  Hosts. 

My  covenant  with  him  was  life  and  peace, 

And  I  gave  them  to  him  for  fear, 

And  he  feared  me,  and  reverenced  my  name. 

6  The  law  of  truth  was  in  his  mouth, 

And  unrighteousness  was  not  found  in  his  lips  ; 
He  walked  with  me  in  truth  and  equity. 
And  turned  many  away  from  iniquity. 

7  For  the  lips  of  the  priest  should  keep  knowledge, 
And  men  should  seek  the  law  from  his  mouth  ; 
For  he  is  a  messenger  of  Jehovah  of  Hosts. 

8  But  ye  have  departed  from  the  way. 

Ye  have  caused  many  to  stumble  at  the  law, 

And  ye  have  made  void  the  covenant  with  Levi, 

Saith  Jehovah  of  Hosts; 

Therefore  will  I  also  make  you 

^Vspicable  and  base  before  all  the  people ; 

Because  ye  have  not  kept  my  ways, 

But  have  had  respect  to  persons  in  the  law. 


SECTION  in. 


Rehike  of  Divorce  and  Mixed  Marriages  (Chap.  ii.  10-17). 

iO  Have  we  not  all  one  Father  ? 
Hath  not  one  God  ci'cated  us  ? 
Why  do  we  act  treacherously  one  toward  another, 
And  profane  the  Covenant  of  our  fathers? 

11  Judah  hath  acted  treacherously. 

And  an  abomination  is  committed  in  Israel,  and  in  Jerusalem, 

For  Judah  hath  profaned  the  holy  people  of  Jehovah,  which  Fie  loveth. 

And  hath  married  the  daughter  of  a  strange  God. 

12  Jehovah  will  cut  off  from  the  tents  of  Jacob  the  man  that  doeth  this, 
The  waker  and  the  answerer, 

And  him  that  brmgeth  a  sacrifice  to  Jehovah  of  Hosts. 

13  And  this  second  thing  ye  do. 

Ye  cover  the  altar  of  Jehovah  with  tears. 
With  weeping,  and  with  groans, 
So  that  He  hath  no  more  regard  to  the  offering. 
Nor  accepts  it  as  well-pleasing  from  your  hand. 

14  And  if  ye  say,  "  Wherefore  ?  (doth  He  not  accept  ?)  " 

Because  Jehovah  has  been  witness  between  thee  and  the  wife  of  thy  yonth* 

Agaius*  whom  thou  hast  acted  treacherously. 

While  she  was  thy  companion,  and  the  wife  of  thy  covenant. 

15  But  did  He  not  make  one  (pair)  ? 
Though  He  nad  a  residue  of  the  Spirit  ? 
And  wherefore  one  ? 


SECTIONS  IV.,  V.  33 


He  sought  a  godly  seed. 
Therefore  take  heed  to  your  spirit, 
And  act  not  treacherously  to  the  wife  of  thy  youth  I 
16  For  I  hate  divorce, 

Saith  Jehovah,  the  God  of  Israel, 

And  him  that  covers  with  cruelty  his  garment. 


SECTION  IV. 

T%e  Coming  of  the  Angel  of  the  Covenant  for  Judgment  (Chap.  iL  17— UL  9^» 

1 7       Ye  have  wearied  Jehovah  with  your  words, 

And  if  ye  say,  "  Wherein  have  we  wearied  Him  ?  " 

In  that  ye  say,  "  Every  evil  doer 

Is  good  in  the  eyes  of  Jehovah, 

And  in  them  He  hath  delight," 

Or,  "  Where  is  the  God  of  judgment  ? " 

1  Behold,  I  send  my  messenger, 

That  he  may  prepare  the  way  before  me ; 

And  the  Lord,  whom  ye  seek,  shall  suddenly  come  to  his  templ6f 

And  the  Angel  of  the  Covenant,  whom  ye  desire, 

Behold  he  comes,  saith  Jehovah  of  Hosts. 

2  But  who  can  endure  the  day  of  his  coming  ? 
And  who  can  stand  at  his  appearing? 

For  he  is  like  the  smelter's  fire. 
And  like  the  lye  of  the  washer. 
S  And  He  will  sit  as  a  smelter,  and  purifier  of  silyer. 
And  will  purify  the  sons  of  Levi, 
And  will  refine  them,  as  gold  and  silver, 
That  they  may  offer  to  Jehovah  sacrifices  in  righteousness. 

4  And  the  offering  of  Judah  and  Jerusalem  will  be  pleasing  to  JehoTah, 
As  in  the  days  of  former  times. 

And  as  in  past  years. 

5  And  I  will  come  near  to  you  to  judgment ;  ^ 
And  I  will  be  a  swift  witness 

Against  the  sorcerers,  and  against  the  adulterers,  and  against  those  who  swear  ftt 

deceit, 
And  against  those  who  defraud  the  hireling  of  his  wages, 
And  oppress  the  widow  and  the  fatherless. 
And  turn  aside  the  stranger  from  his  right. 
And  fear  not  me,  saith  Jehovah  of  Hosts. 
€  For  I,  Jehovah,  change  not : 

Therefore  ye  sons  of  Jacob  are  not  consumed. 


SECTION  V. 
Rebuke  for  Neglect  of  Tithes  and  Offerings  (Chap.  iii.  7-12). 

From  the  day*  of  your  fathers  ye  have  departed  from  mine  ordinances,  And  haTB 

not  kejit  them  ; 
K.turn  to  me,  and  I  will  return  to  you. 


S4  MALACHI. 


Saith  Jehovah  of  Hosts. 

And  ye  say,  "  Wherein  shall  we  return  ?  " 

Will  a  man  defraud  God,  that  ye  defrauded  me  ? 

"  And  ye  say,  "  Wlierein  have  we  defrauded  thee  ?  * 

In  the  tithe  and  in  the  heave  offering. 

Ye  are  cursed  with  a  curse. 

Yet  ye  defraud  me,  even  the  whole  nation. 

10  Bring  ye  the  whole  tithe  into  the  treasure  house, 
That  there  may  be  food  in  my  house, 

And  prove  me  now  herewith, 

Saith  Jehovah  of  Hosts, 

If  I  will  not  open  you  the  windows  of  heaven, 

And  pour  out  upon  you  a  blessing  till  there  is  not  room  enough* 

11  And  I  will  rebuke  for  you  the  devourer, 

That  he  may  not  destroy  the  fruit  of  your  ground, 
Nor  will  your  vine  be  barren  in  the  field, 
Saith  Jehovah  of  Hosts. 

12  And  all  nations  shall  call  you  blessed. 
For  ye  shall  be  a  joyful  land, 

Saith  Jehovah  of  Hosts. 


SECTION  VI. 

Retribution  of  the  Righteous  and  the  Wicked  (Chap.  iii). 

18       Your  words  have  been  bold  against  me,  saith  Jehovah ; 

And  ye  say, "  What  have  we  spoken  with  one  another  against  theeP* 

14  Ye  have  said.  It  is  a  vain  thing  to  serve  God, 

And  what  gain  is  it,  that  we  have  kept  his  ordinance, 
And  walked  mournfully  because  of  Jehovah  of  Hosts  ? 

15  For  now  we  call  the  proud  happy. 

Yea,  the  doers  of  wickedness  are  built  up. 

Yea,  they  have  tempted  God,  and  have  been  delivered. 

16  Then  those,  who  feared  Jehovah,  conversed  with  one  another 
And  Jehovah  attended  and  heard  ; 

And  a  book  of  remembrance  was  written  before  Him, 
For  them  that  feared  Jehovah, 
And  that  thought  upon  his  name. 

17  And  they  shall  be  my  property,  saith  Jehovah, 
In  the  day  which  I  appoint, 

And  I  will  spare  them, 

As  a  man  spareth  his  own  son,  that  serveth  him. 

18  Then  shall  ye  again  discern 

[The  difference]  between  the  righteous  and  the  wicked^ 
Between  him  who  serveth  God, 
And  him  that  serveth  Him  not. 

rV.    1  For  behold  the  day  cometh,  burning  like  a  furnace. 

And  all  the  proud,  and  every  doer  of  wickedness  shall  be  chAlJiy 
And  the  coming  day  shall  burn  them  up, 
Saith  Jehovah  of  Hosts, 

So  that  it  will  not  leave  them  root  nor  branch. 
2  But  unto  you,  that  fear  my  name, 
Shall  the  Sun  of  Righteousness  arise 
With  healing  in  his  wings. 


.SECTION   VI.  S6 


And  ye  shall  go  forth,  and  leap  [for  joy], 

Like  calves  of  the  stall. 

And  ye  shall  tread  down  the  wicked, 

For  they  shall  be  ashes  under  the  soles  of  your  feet, 

In  the  day  which  I  appoint,  saith  Jehovah  of  Hosts. 

Remember  ye  the  law  of  Moses,  my  servant, 

Which  I  commanded  him  upon  Horeb  for  all  Israel, 

My  statutes  and  my  precepts  ! 

Behold,  I  send  you  Elijah  the  prophet. 

Before  the  day  of  Jehovah  come. 

The  great  and  terrible  day. 

He  shall  turn  the  heart  of  the  fathers  to  the  soil% 

And  the  heart  of  the  sons  to  the  fathers, 

That  I  may  not  come 

And  smite  the  land  with  a  cane. 


Date  Due 


